战火金兰 第二部：躁动死灵 Sisterhood of War Part II: The Unquiet Dead
作者：Ian St. Martin
她无法呼吸。
She cannot breathe.她的双眼是睁着的，但看到的只有一片厚重的黑暗，压得她喘不过气。重压之下，她的气息渐渐消失。她费力地缓缓抽进一口气，口鼻里填满了鲜血和内脏的味道，如同置身于屠宰间。空气中还有别的东西，一种微弱、辛辣、腐蚀性的气体，正在偷偷爬进她的肺。Her eyes are open, but there is nothing but a heavy, suffocating blackness. It crushes down on her. Her breath smothering. She draws in a slow, rasping breath. It fills her nose with the scents of blood and offal, a slaughterhouse stink. There is something else too, something thin, caustic, and sharp, coiling its way toward her lungs.她身边的重量发生了转移。她听到某种沉重的东西落地，是死气沉沉的肢体摔进泥里的声音。黑暗一块块褪去，她渐渐看清自己的困境。血迹斑斑的碎布。被打破的板甲。被蹂躏后的冰冷肉体。The weight around her shifts. She hears something heavy tumble away, the muffled sound of lifeless limbs slapping into mud. The darkness wanes in patches, giving texture to her prison. Bloodied rags. Shattered plate. Cold, abused flesh.尸体。她被埋在了无数具尸体下面。Bodies. She is buried under bodies.反抗、逃跑和求生的冲动占据了她全身。一股垂死挣扎的热流贯穿她竭力的身体。她用力挣脱，左右两侧交替着为自己扭开空隙。她看到了发丝一样细的开口，难以辨认的光线照了进来。她的狂乱品尝到了希望的味道，开始抓挠、爬行，断断续续地喘着气，把那道开口撕得再大些。The urge to fight, to escape and survive, rises all-consuming. Adrenaline rushes through exhausted veins. She struggles, wrenching from side to side to force a cavity between herself and the mass. She sees a hairline crack, the faintest trickle of light spilling in. Hope feeds her frenzy. She scratches and claws. Eyesight blurring, rasping breath as she tears the gap wider.她的手伸到了外面。冷风灌进来，她贪婪地大口吸气，但那剧毒的苦涩味道依然混在其中。她感觉舌头表面裹满了那个味道，顺着喉咙钻了下去，不由得一阵干呕。她用力将一只手推到外面，然后将自己往外拖拽。Her hand punches free. Cold air floods in, gulping it into her lungs, but that toxic, bitter something comes with it again. She gags as it coats her tongue, spilling down her throat. She pushes out an arm, beginning to haul herself out.她的头和上臂都出来了。大口喘息的同时双肺感觉像是变成了一对着火的灯笼。她看到地面已经被搅成一滩烂泥，一块块泥土正在燃烧着，冒出苍蓝和白银的火焰，死者散落其间。一颗倒下的大树尝试着找回自己遗落的枝干，无数树叶用她听不懂的语言发出尖叫。战斗已经结束了。Her head and arm are free. Gasping for breath but her lungs are twin lanterns ablaze. She can see the ground churned to mire, patches of it burning azure and silver, strewn with the dead. A felled tree’s trunk reaches out for its lost branches, the leaves screaming in tongues. The battle is over.她透过滚滚白雾窥伺到有人影在徘徊。许多生物都聚集到这片大战过后的荒野上，恶毒的飞鸟，瘦弱的野狗。死者现在已经成为了腐肉。是不会反抗的，食物。She glimpses shapes wandering through pale, boiling fog. Creatures gather in the aftermath, wicked birds and gaunt dogs. The dead are carrion now. The vanquished, food.他前方不远处有一具尸体，它从尸堆上滚落下去的声音，就是她刚刚听到的闷响。那个男孩的尸体平铺在地上，身上的铠甲已经破损，原本的保护已经不复存在。There is a body just ahead of her, the one she had heard fall away from atop the mound. A boy sprawled out on the ground, his armor broken open, the protection it once offered him gone.一条野狗开始进食。那个男孩的身体就像提线木偶一样蠢动。她想要喊叫，轰开野兽，但她的喉咙像被刀割。这团雾让一切都笼罩在腐蚀性的辛辣气味中。那个男孩的头歪到了侧面，那双眼睛与她四目相对，但早已没了生气。A dog feeds. The boy shudders like a marionette from the roving muzzle. She tries to shout, to drive the beast away, but razors line her throat. The fog covers everything in its acrid and corrosive touch. The boy’s head lolls to the side, the eyes meeting hers glazed over and lifeless.然后他眨了眨眼。
Then he blinks.
阿蕾尔坐起来，双手扶着地，努力止住自己的眩晕。湿土和青草的气味不会有错，覆盖了她梦中的血腥与辛酸味道。雨水渗过了帐篷的接缝处，滴落在她头顶。
Arrel sat up, placing her hands against the ground to stop her head from spinning. The smell of wet earth and grass asserted themselves over the blood and sour air of the dream. Rainwater trickled down through gaps in the tent over her head.
阿蕾尔看向旁边，发现老二正站在那，嘴里正叼着她的头盔，专注地看着她。她盯着这只亚龙犬看了一会，将梦中野狗的血盆大口残留的影像从眼前抹去。她摆了个手势，他立刻靠过来，把头盔放到她手里，这时帐篷的门帘被掀开了一个缝。
She looked to her side and found Second sitting there, watching Arrel intently with her helm in his jaws. She stared at the drakehound for a moment, blinking away the afterimages of a starving beast’s maw lined with gore. She gestured, and he padded closer, releasing the helmet into her hands as the flap to the tent was pulled open a fraction.
“夫人，”一个熟悉的声音从外面传来。“时间到了。”
“Mistress,” came a familiar voice from outside. “It’s time.”
阿蕾尔重新戴上头盔，颤抖着，缓缓抽一口气，没有理会肺里传来的刺痛，然后她站了起来。潮湿的被褥在她脚下被踩出了水，她大步走出帐篷，来到雨中。老一跟在她身后，其他三头亚龙犬都在外面等着，看到她以后立刻顺从地跟了过去。
Arrel replaced the helm, taking a slow, rasping breath and ignoring the pain it stitched down into her lungs before standing up. The damp fabric of her bedroll squelched beneath her feet as she stooped to leave her tent and stepped out into the rain. First trailed behind the tracker, joining the other three of the pack that waited outside as they followed obediently in her wake.
俄拉斯从帐篷的门口后撤一步，小心地看着阿蕾尔。她睡觉时总是很不安稳，而且自从离开斐洛尔以后就更加令人担心了。
Erath stepped back from the tent, eyeing Arrel carefully. Hers had not been a silent sleep, and they had been getting worse since they had left Fae’lor.
“你没事吧？”他问。
“Are you alright?” he asked.
“收帐篷。”这位追猎手并没有直接回答。她环顾四周，这是一片树林山坡中间的一小片空地，他们昨晚选择在此扎营，而现在，一场蒙蒙细雨让一切变得湿漉漉，反射着彩虹的每一种色彩。有的雨滴正常落到地上，有的则像微小的星辰一样在空气中闪烁，融化在光点中，消散在远处传来的钟声里。
“Strike the tent,” the tracker replied. Arrel looked out across a small clearing in the wooded hills they had chosen to make camp, shrouded in a gentle rain that glittered and shone with every color of the rainbow. Some of the drops struck the ground as rain should, others winked in the air like tiny stars, dissolving in a mote of light with the soft chime of a distant bell.
她痛恨艾欧尼亚，这种恨意甚至追着她进入了她的梦境。她回忆着那副景象，几乎可以发誓，锐雯的尸体一定就在那个地方。如果真是这样的话，一切就都简单多了。
She hated Ionia, and it pursued Arrel even into her dreams. She could swear, grasping back at the images, that Riven’s body was among the dead. It would have been so much simpler, if that were true.
阿莱尔回头看看俄拉斯。“她没跟丢气味吧？”
Arrel looked back over her shoulder at Erath. “Has she kept the scent?”
剑僮点了点头。“符文工匠的刀剑依然在对她歌唱。”
The blade squire nodded once. “The runesmith’s blade still sings to her.”
“那我去前边探查一番。”阿蕾尔说着，迈开脚步。
“Then I’ll range ahead,” said Arrel, already walking.
“不必了，”俄拉斯说，“我和提涅芙在附近找到了一座村子，我们打算去那筹措粮草。”
“No need,” said Erath. “Teneff and I found a village up nearby, we aim to stop there for supplies.”
阿蕾尔吭了一声，停在原地攥紧双拳。“我们应该躲开那帮人。我们在这里不受欢迎。”
Arrel grunted, fists clenching as she came to a halt. “We ought to avoid them. We are not welcome here.”
“我们的物资储备要见底了，”俄拉斯说，“我跟提涅芙只身前往。她觉得马莉特、亨丽埃塔还有你的猎犬会引起不必要的注意。我们快去快回，然后我们立刻重新上路。”
“Our provisions are growing scarce,” said Erath. “Teneff and I will go alone. She thinks Marit, Henrietta, and your hounds will attract attention we don’t desire. We shall return quickly and then be on our path again.”
片刻过后，阿蕾尔点了一下头。
After a few moments, Arrel gave a nod.Erath did not know the name of the village. Like so much of Ionia, he simply assumed it would be something unknowably poetic, like a secret whispered between friends he could neither hear nor understand.
He had thought the rain would make it easier to conceal themselves. The group of them had discarded as much Noxian gear as possible when they left Fae’lor, to avoid notice of both the locals and the empire as they conducted their mission, but they were still strangers in a strange land. As he followed Teneff down the muddy thoroughfare of the village, Erath felt every pair of eyes on him, dissuading him of any pretense of camouflage.
俄拉斯并不知道这个村的名字。他猜这里和艾欧尼亚的其他地方一样，肯定被称为某种不知所云的文绉绉的名字，对他来说就像是外人心照不宣的秘密耳语，他听不清也听不懂。
“Stay close to me,” said Teneff, her gruff tones affecting a calm Erath attempted to adopt, though he didn’t feel it. Both of them were armed, but that was not unusual for anyone in Navori. Though Erath was beginning to come to the realization that not every weapon was one that he could see.
他以为雨天会让他们容易隐藏行踪。在离开斐洛尔的时候，这支小队尽可能丢弃了所有诺克萨斯的装备，免得被当地人和帝国发觉他们正在执行的任务，但说到底他们依然还是陌生土地上的陌生人。俄拉斯随着提涅芙一起走在村里的大道上，他觉得每双眼睛都在盯着自己，似乎是在劝他放下伪装。
“Hold on,” whispered Teneff, and the pair faded back to lean against the wall of a tea house. There was a scuffle developing ahead, a handful of warriors edged in red surrounding an Ionian elder. A small crowd of onlookers was gathering.
“跟紧点，”提涅芙说。她粗哑的嗓音让人产生一种冷静的感觉，俄拉斯正在无意识地尝试模仿。他们二人都没带武器，但在纳沃利，不带武器的人并不罕见。俄拉斯开始意识到，并非所有武器都是能让人看得到的。
“What are they doing here?” said Erath, his eyes locked to the Noxian soldiers.
“等等，”提涅芙悄声说，二人立刻躲到一家茶馆的墙后。前面打起来了，一名艾欧尼亚老者被几个战士围住，他们身上的红色咄咄逼人。看热闹的人群立刻聚集起来。
“We have an outpost not far to the south,” said Teneff quietly. “This might just be a patrol, or a reprisal sweep if we got hit in the night by a Brotherhood raid.”
“他们跑到这来做什么？”俄拉斯目不转睛地看着那些诺克萨斯士兵。
The pair moved closer, skirting around the periphery of the people who were watching the confrontation. Erath tugged his hood down further over his head, his fingers brushing against the bone pendant around his neck, then down to check the short blade at his belt. They stopped once they came close enough for the shouting to become words.
“南边不远处有我们一座哨站，”提涅芙静静地说，“可能只是一次巡逻，也可能是夜里被兄弟会偷袭，现在出来报复扫荡。”
“I come from festival,” the old man was trying to explain, his lips fighting to pronounce the Va-Noxian. “In Weh’le.”
他们二人悄悄靠近，绕着围观群众的外侧假装路过。俄拉斯扯低了罩帽，手指摸索着脖子上挂着的骨制坠饰，然后确认了一下腰带上的短刀。他们靠近到了刚好可以听清说话内容的距离。
“Weh’le,” repeated the lead soldier. “That’s pretty far.” He eyed a paper-wrapped bundle the old man held.
“我是从节日集市上回来的，”老人正在努力解释，他颤抖的嘴说着瓦-诺克萨斯语。“从崴里回来的。”
“T-tea.” The Ionian clutched the parcel to his chest protectively. “This tea, this blossom tea.”
“崴里。”为首的士兵重复了一遍。“可挺远的啊。”她看着老人手中捧着的纸包。
The soldier’s eyes narrowed. “All the way to Weh’le and back, for tea?”
“茶。”那个艾欧尼亚人将小纸包护在胸前。“这个是茶，是花茶。”
“I’ve heard of that festival,” remarked another of the Noxians. “It’s their death feast.”
士兵们的眼神开始充满怀疑。“去崴里跑了一趟，就为了一包茶？”
“Celebrating war heroes?” The lead Noxian took a step closer to the man. “Reminisce a little, dig up some old hurts—people can get crazy ideas in their heads doing that.”
“我听说过那个节日，”一个诺克萨斯人说“那个是他们的死人节。”
“Like setting fire to a stockade last night,” offered another soldier.
“纪念英雄的？”为首的诺克萨斯人逼近了一步。“有点像，揭开旧伤疤这种事，容易让人激动干傻事。”
“Nothing like that,” said the Ionian. Suddenly the packet he carried glimmered with a faint blue light. The Noxians sprang into combat postures, leveling their blades at the Ionian.
“比如昨晚点燃木栅栏之类的。”另一个士兵说。
“That is magic,” barked the lead soldier. “That is a weapon!”
“不是的。”那个艾欧尼亚人说，他手中的纸包突然泛起一阵微弱的蓝光。几个诺克萨斯人立刻摆出战斗架势，刀剑举起，对着那个艾欧尼亚人。
“No! This, this,” the old man struggled to find the words. “Ezari! Ezari, my… son. My wife, too old to go. I bring back for her, to see him.”
“是魔法，”为首的士兵喊道，“这是一件武器！”
“More lies,” snarled a Noxian.
“不是！这个，这个，”老人搜肠刮肚地寻找正确的词语。“俄扎利！俄扎利，我的……儿子。我老伴太老了走不动。我带回来，让她看看。”
“Yeah, yeah, just like before,” another soldier hissed, her eyes glazed over with the scars of a hateful memory. “You all make nice, wait ’til our backs are turned before you whisper some curse and then boom! Boyod bursts into flame, Iddy’s legs gone, my friend Kron’s heart turned to salt in his chest! That’s what you do!”
“接着编。”一个诺克萨斯人吼道。
“This is getting ugly,” murmured Erath. “What should we do?”
“对，对，就像以前那样。”另一个士兵恶狠狠地说着，眼神中映着记忆中的憎恨伤疤。“你们都一脸和气，一看我们转过身去，你们就开始念咒，然后就崩！博尤德被你们活活烧死，艾迪双腿残废，我的哥们科伦，心脏在肚子里化成了灰！都是你们干的！”
“Nothing,” answered Teneff, still brutally calm. “Not our fight.”
“要出事，”俄拉斯小声说，“我们咋办？”
“Surrender the weapon,” snarled the lead Noxian, the haft of his axe creaking in his grip.
“不办。”提涅芙的语气依然无情且冷静。“不该我们管。”
“Is no weapon,” the elder pleaded. He looked to the crowd, but their eyes were fixed on the blades carried by a dozen Noxian soldiers, and they did nothing to help him.
“把武器交出来。”为首的诺克萨斯人吼着，手中的斧柄被握得吱嘎作响。
“You heard him,” barked another soldier. She advanced, snatching at the parcel. The two struggled over it, and Erath heard the sound of paper tearing.
“不是武器。”老人哀求着说。他的目光向周围的人群求助，但人们都在忌惮诺克萨斯士兵的刀剑，无人挺身而出。
The Ionian cried out, wordless anguish spilling from his lips as the tea scattered across the ground. He tried to save a measure of it, but the rain was already sweeping it from him.
“赶紧的。”另一个士兵叫道。她向前一步，将纸包一把夺过来。二人短暂争抢，然后俄拉斯听到了纸张撕裂的声音。
“Ezari…” croaked the old man as he sank to his knees, watching the tea disintegrate into the mud. Every raindrop that struck the powdered leaves elicited a pulse of radiant blue, each successive one growing fainter and fainter until it finally washed away.
艾欧尼亚老人大声哭喊出来，语无伦次地发出痛苦的叫嚷，他的茶叶撒到了地上。他想救起一小撮，但雨水已经将茶叶冲散。
“Try something,” said the lead soldier to the crowd as the Noxians joined ranks and began to edge their way back. “Please. I’ll burn all this to ashes.”
“俄扎利……”老人缩成一团，跪倒在地，眼看着茶叶化为污泥。雨水打在茶叶粉末中，每一滴都激起一阵蓝光，随后的每一下荧光都越来越弱，最后彻底冲散。
“Xiir!” the Ionian shrieked, his face turned up into the rain. “Xiir!”
“你们要敢乱动，”为首的士兵对着人群大声说着，其他诺克萨斯人集合整队，开始一步步撤出村子。“就试试，看我敢不敢把这地方烧成灰。”
Erath felt a hand grip his shoulder.
“渍蠡！”那个艾欧尼亚老者仰面朝天，对着雨水厉声嚎哭。“渍蠡！”
“We are leaving,” said Teneff, not taking her eyes from the soldiers as they marched the opposite way.
俄拉斯感到有人抓住他的肩膀。
“Do you see those Ionians?” said Erath. “Our comrades won’t make it out of this town alive.”
“走了，”提涅芙说着，始终盯着那群士兵，看着他们从另一个方向离开。
“你看到那些艾欧尼亚人了吗？”俄拉斯说，“我们的战友别想活着离开这座镇了。”
“不该我们管。”提涅芙重复了一遍。“你可以等到饿肚子以后再开始同情他们，剑僮。现在我们必须抓紧赶路了。”
“Not our fight,” Teneff said again. “You can sympathize for them on an empty stomach, blade squire. Now we’ll have to make due on the trail.”
“他喊的那个词，”俄拉斯回头向身后望，但脚步继续跟着提涅芙，“是什么意思？”
“That word he was screaming,” said Erath, looking back over his shoulder as he followed after Teneff. “What does it mean?”
“渍蠡，”提涅芙说，“是一句脏话，他们专门用来称呼我们这些来自‘俘虏之地’的人。意思是蝗灾。”
“Xiir,” Teneff repeated. “It is a curse that they use for those of us that come from ‘the Captive Lands’. It means locust.”Tifalenji was waiting for them just outside of the village. The runesmith’s sword was drawn, and faint traceries of emerald light ghosted across the surface of the blade.
“What was all that?” she asked.
蒂法莲芝就在村外等他们。符文工匠的长剑握在手上，剑身表面的翡翠色纹路发出幽幽的光。
“Our outpost near here got hit last night,” said Teneff. “Probably the Navori Brotherhood. Looks like the warleader there sent out troops to track down leads, or just cause trouble for the locals.”
“刚才是什么情况？”她问。
The runesmith absorbed her words for a moment. “Were you seen?”
“我们附近的一座哨站昨晚被偷袭了，”提涅芙说，“估计是纳沃利兄弟会。看起来哨站的军官派出了部队沿路巡逻，或者只是让他们给当地人制造点麻烦。”
“No,” Teneff replied. “And from reading the town, it didn’t seem wise to linger and seek out barter.”
符文工匠思索了片刻，“有人看到你们吗？”
“There speaks wisdom,” Tifalenji nodded. “Let us be off then.”
“没有。”提涅芙答道，“从镇上的气氛来看，我觉得明智点就不要继续逗留，更别想买东西了。”
Erath accepted the reins for Talz, the group’s hulking basilisk, from the runesmith. Patting the side of the creature, he glimpsed Arrel and her drakehounds. The tracker looked haggard to him, but he had learned better than to pry.
“有道理，”蒂法莲芝点点头，“那咱们走吧。”
“Where is Marit?” asked Teneff.
俄拉斯从符文工匠手里接过缰绳，塔尔兹，那头充当小队驮兽的龙蜥，又回到了他的管辖之下。他轻抚这头巨兽的侧身，同时瞥了一眼阿蕾尔和她的亚龙犬。这位追猎手似乎有点憔悴，不过他已经知道自己不应该多嘴询问。
“She said that waiting for you all was boring, so she rode ahead,” said Tifalenji.
“马莉特哪去了？”提涅芙问。
For a while they walked in silence, trudging through the ankle-deep mud and shimmering rain. Erath thought back to the village and the sequence of events that had unfolded. The anger, hatred, and fear he had seen on the faces of the Noxian soldiers. His hand strayed to the bone pendant around his neck.
“她说干等太无聊，就先出发了。”蒂法莲芝说。
“Teneff?”
他们默默走了一阵，没到脚踝的泥地在雨中变得更难走。俄拉斯回忆在村里发生的事。那股愤怒、憎恨和恐惧，在诺克萨斯士兵脸上显而易见。他的手不知不觉地摸到自己脖子上挂着的骨制坠饰。
The veteran looked back at him. “What’s on your mind?”
“提涅芙？”
“It’s just, those villagers, all the Ionians. How can we convince them to join the empire like that?”
那名老兵回头看了看他，“怎么了？”
Teneff’s aspect darkened. She stopped, allowing Erath to catch up to her. “Do not judge your fellow Noxians, boy, until you have endured what they have endured, and seen what they have seen.”
“我在想，那些村民，那些艾欧尼亚人。那种行为怎样可能说服他们加入帝国呢？”
Erath looked at Teneff.
提涅芙的表情黯淡下去。她慢下两步，让俄拉斯与她并肩而行。“不要对你的诺克萨斯同胞妄下定论，小子，你没忍受过他们的经历，没见过他们的见闻。”
“Each of them came here to bring the promise of the empire to those who they would call brethren,” she continued, “just as we did across Valoran, and in Shurima. This land is… different. It lays a great challenge upon the soul of every soldier in service to Noxus. We all strive to enlighten these people, to draw them to us and enrich us all by doing so, but it is not always a simple thing. Ionia is very much not a simple thing.”
俄拉斯看着提涅芙。
“So much is different here,” Erath agreed. “Do Ionians really turn into flowers when they die?”
“他们每个人来到这里，都是为了将帝国的承诺带给那些愿意成为同胞的人，”她继续说，“这和我们在瓦洛兰、在恕瑞玛的时候是一样的。但这片土地……不一样。它给每一名对诺克萨斯效忠的士兵都提出了巨大的灵魂挑战。我们全都在努力给这里的人们带来启迪，努力让他们向我们靠拢，最后共同富足。但这个过程并非总是简单直接的。艾欧尼亚一点都不简单直接。”
Tifalenji grunted. “A spirit blossom. The souls of the dead inhabit them, and when they bloom they call out to the living, if what I have been told is true.”
“这里的确有太多不一样的地方，”俄拉斯赞同道，“艾欧尼亚人死了以后真的会变成花吗？”
“That holds with what I know,” said Teneff.
蒂法莲芝吭了一声，插了近来，“绽灵节。死者的灵魂会寄宿到绽灵花上，开花的时候就会呼唤生者。据我所知是这样的。”
“Is it only Ionians who inhabit the blossoms?” Erath asked Teneff.
“跟我了解到的情况相符。”提涅芙说。
“I know not, why?”
“只有艾欧尼亚人的灵魂寄宿在花里吗？”俄拉斯问提涅芙。
Erath reached under his jerkin, and took his pendant off. “During the war, all the fighters in our tribe came here. For years we heard nothing, until one day a woman came with this.” He held out the sliver of bone in his hands, lifting it up to show Teneff. “This is all that she said is left of my father. I wonder, could he be in one of the blossoms? Is his spirit still here, and could I find him?”
“不知道，为什么这么问？”
“Even if there were,” Tifalenji interjected, “we have no time for such fancies. I need you focused now. Remember why you are here, blade squire. The purpose each of us is bound to carry out. Put all else from your mind.”
俄拉斯把手伸进坎肩里，摘下了坠饰。“在战争期间，我们部族里的所有战士都被派到了这里。许多年都没消息，后来有一天一个女人带着这个过来了。”他举起那块骨头，让提涅芙看得到。“她说，我的父亲只剩下这个了。我在想，他会不会也在一朵花里？他的灵魂是不是还在这里，我能不能找到他？”
Erath lowered his head. Unlike Tifalenji and the huntresses, his own purpose here felt elusive, a hard thing to balance against something as absolute as desertion. He dragged a thumb over the surface of the pendant. “Yes, mistress.”
“就算有这种可能，”蒂法莲芝打断了他，“我们也没工夫搞这些玄乎玩意。我现在需要你专注。要记住你为什么在这里，剑僮。要记住我们必须执行的职责。其他的事情都不要去想。”
Teneff looked back over her shoulder. “If your father died here, then he died a hero for Noxus. That is all that matters.”
俄拉斯低下了头。蒂法莲芝和另外几位女猎手都目标明确，然而他自己的目标却有点模糊，相比之下，逃兵罪可是清晰和绝对的。他用拇指摩挲坠饰的表面。“明白了，夫人。”
Erath nodded, slowly slipping the cord and the pendant back around his neck.Does the rain here ever stop?
提涅芙回过头看了一眼。“如果你的父亲死在了这里，那他就是诺克萨斯的英烈。这才是最重要的。”
Erath hauled one foot out of the mud, fighting to keep the mire from sucking the boot off him and only partially succeeding. Bouncing on one foot, he reached down to tug his boot up, shivering and at complete odds with the world surrounding him.
俄拉斯点点头，把吊坠戴回到脖子上。
The shimmering color of the rainfall made everything like a dream in a wavering, queasy way. He heard creatures make calls from the branches of trees the color of summer sunsets, sounds that didn’t seem like they could come from an animal. Maybe it was the trees themselves that were calling, as their leaves waxed and waned from orange to indigo.
It was all so unreal.
这场雨永远都下不完了吗？
The only thing that felt truly real to Erath at that moment was the grumbling of an empty stomach. He wished they had managed to barter with the villagers before the soldiers had rendered their chance impossible. The whole scene had sat wrong with him, scattering his mind with jagged, uncomfortable thoughts. Is that how war was fought here? Was that how his father had fought it?
俄拉斯从泥里抽出一只脚，努力不让泥巴吸走脚上的靴子，但只成功了一半。他单脚跳了几步，俯下身子把靴子提好，浑身发抖，觉得周围的整个世界都在与自己为敌。
Erath’s boots struck hard ground, and he breathed out a moment’s relief at the prospect of being free of the mud. He stretched the muscles in his arms as he led Talz forward across the stretch of pale stone ahead of them.
雨水的彩虹闪光让一切都看起来像是一场梦，捉摸不定，晕头转向。他听到了许多动物在夕阳色的树枝上发出叫声，那些声音根本不像是动物能够发出来的。或许那是树木自己在召唤，它们的叶子盈亏消长，从橙红变成靛蓝。
As he walked, Erath took notice of the ground, seeing subtle shapes and lines that were somehow familiar to him. There was something intentional about the rock beneath his feet. An artfulness, even. His eyes grew wide.
太虚幻了。
They were walking across a pair of cupped hands rendered from stone, half buried in the earth. Much of them was hidden beneath the surface, but the palms alone were wide enough to span a courtyard. Erath wondered about the size of the person they would be connected to, and where they might have come from.
唯一让俄拉斯感到真实的是咕咕叫的肚子。他真希望当初能赶在那群士兵闹事之前跟村民进行交易。那个场景始终让他念念不忘，常常让他产生一些不舒服的想法。难道这就是艾欧尼亚战争的真面目？难道他的父亲就是这样参战的？
“I would like to know how anyone could make such a thing,” said Erath.
俄拉斯双脚踩在硬实的地面上，他终于可以暂时摆脱泥泞，不由得长吁一口气。他伸展手臂的肌肉，牵着塔尔兹走上一块苍白的巨石。
“I’m rather more keen to know who could have destroyed it,” replied Tifalenji, her face stern as her gaze drifted over the scars and fissures where immense fingers had once been. “Or what.”
一边走着，俄拉斯一边注意到地面上精细的形状和条纹不知为何有种熟悉的感觉。他脚下的巨石似乎并非自然形成，甚至还有一种规则的美感。他惊讶地瞪大双眼。
“Hold,” Arrel warned, a low guttural chorus of snarls issuing from her hounds.
他们脚下是一双巨大的手，拢成碗状，虽然一半被泥土掩埋，但依然可以看出是一整块连在一起的巨石。从露在地表的部分看，光是两个手掌的面积就堪比一座庭院。俄拉斯很好奇，拥有这双手的石像尺寸会有多大，而且究竟是从何而来。
She pointed.
“我很想知道这么大的东西是怎么造出来的。”俄拉斯说。
There was something lying in the center of the hands. It was a small shape, mewling softly in the rain. Erath pawed water from his eyes, squinting as he went nearer to it. Every time he blinked it was a different color.
“我倒是更想知道是谁给毁成这样的。”蒂法莲芝说。她表情坚毅，目光扫过断指处留下的伤疤和裂缝。“或者说，是被什么东西毁的。”
“Careful,” said the runesmith. Her eyes were on their surroundings, wary as she slowly drew her sword in a low rasp of steel.
“停。”阿蕾尔发出警告，她的猎犬也纷纷发出低吼。
Curiosity pulled Erath forward. The creature was small, a little less than the length of his falchion’s blade. He glimpsed both feathers and scales, short coiling fronds that grasped feebly at the air and raised nubs that might one day sprout what appeared to be wings. The blade squire knelt, finding himself saying the same phrase he had repeated again and again ever since he had first set foot in Ionia.
她指了指前方。
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” murmured Erath. He reached toward the creature. “Hey, little one. You hungry?”
双手的正中间有个东西。体型不大，正在雨中小声鸣泣。俄拉斯擦了一把眼前的雨水，眯着眼睛走上前去。他每次眨眼，那个东西都变换一种颜色。
“No, no, no,” breathed Teneff, her eyes darting to and fro like the runesmith’s. “No, no, no.”
“当心。”符文工匠说。她的目光在环顾四周，同时慢慢抽出剑，带出低沉的钢铁摩擦音。
Erath blinked. “But, what if it’s hurt? This is just a baby.”
好奇心牵着俄拉斯不断向前。那个动物的体型很小，身长还不足他的弯刀。他瞥见了羽毛和鳞片，卷曲的短蕨簇无力地拍打着空气，扬起的骨节可能未来会长成类似翅膀的东西。剑僮半跪下来，不由自主地又说了那句话，自从他踏上艾欧尼亚以来就一次又一次重复的那句话。
“Exactly,” Teneff agreed. Erath heard the links of her chain unravel from her arm. “Where do you think the mother is, then?”
“我从没见过这样的东西。”俄拉斯喃喃自语，他向那个小动物伸出手，“嘿，小家伙，你饿不饿？”
Something detached from the trees beside them. The already chilly air grew colder. Erath’s breath caught in his throat as a massive form revealed itself, and the rain began to fall upward.
“不，不，不。”提涅芙轻声说，她也像符文工匠那样四下搜索着什么。“不，不，不。”
Like the tiny, helpless thing they had found it was part bird, part beast, and part sea creature. Grown to its full size, though, every facet was heightened to a fully monstrous extent. The baby’s grasping fronds were, on the “mother”, tentacles thick as a man’s arm, the subtle bumps razored talons. Half its form seemed to ripple in and out of solidity, as though it existed only partially in the same reality that Erath did.
俄拉斯眨眨眼，“可是，万一它受伤了呢？它还是个小宝宝。”
A deafening shriek slashed out from the forest of teeth and eyes that could have counted as the thing’s face. Erath cried out in pain, clamping his hands over his ears. The creature beat the rows of multicolored wings upon its back, buffeting Erath away from its progeny.
“正是。”提涅芙没有否认。俄拉斯听到她把锁链从小臂上解下。“那你觉得它的妈妈现在在哪？”
“Back!” Teneff roared, not to the creature but to Erath. “Keep Talz safe!”
有东西从他们旁边的树林里出来了。已经很凉爽的空气变得更加冰冷。俄拉斯不敢喘气，因为一个巨大的身影出现了，雨滴开始向上飞。
Erath’s falchion was drawn but he did as she said, watching as Teneff spun her chain until it blurred into a blackened spiked arc. Arrel had ghosted behind the thing, her hounds slavering as they waited for her to unleash them. Tifalenji was chanting an uncanny litany that drew blood from her nose as her blade shuddered with emerald light.
他们找到的这个可怜的小东西，有点像鸟，有点像兽，也有点像海怪。它的妈妈和它一样，只不过是长到了成年，每一个侧面都变成了彻头彻尾的怪物。在小宝宝身上的蕨簇，在“妈妈”身上变成了像成年人手臂一样的触须，而那些微小的凸起则变成了锋利的爪子。它一半的身体都似乎在实质与虚无之间摇摆不定，似乎它只有一部分存在于俄拉斯所在的现实。
The beast screamed again, and was attacked from three sides.
一声震耳欲聋的尖叫从森林一般的牙齿之间发出，再加上同样数不清的眼睛，大概那个部位可以算作它的脸。俄拉斯痛苦地喊出来，双手捂住耳朵。怪兽扇动着多彩的翅膀，驱赶着俄拉斯远离它的孩子。
Arrel made a sharp series of hand gestures, and her hounds leapt upon the creature. Fangs and claws tore into its rippling hide. It writhed, twisting and undulating as it fought to shake them loose. The pack was hurled to the ground, but Third came away with a wing in his jaws.
“退后！”提涅芙吼道，不是对怪物，而是对俄拉斯。“保护好塔尔兹！”
“Fr-ah deh-AHK!” Tifalenji bellowed, her blade trailing a constellation of burning jade as she swung. A pair of tentacles came free in a welter of incandescent blue blood, blurring into smears of dirty light before vanishing with a snap of air pressure. The oozing stumps twitched for a moment before sprouting, each appendage lost replaced by three new ones that formed like the branching limbs of a tree.
俄拉斯抽出了弯刀，但他服从了命令，而提涅芙则开始抡起铁链，流星钩锤变成了飞速旋转的圆弧。阿蕾尔悄悄摸到了怪物的后侧，她的猎犬都在流口水，等待她下命令冲上去。蒂法莲芝正在咏唱可怕的祷文，鲜血从鼻孔流出，她的剑震颤着发出翡翠的光芒。
Teneff charged. The beast wailed, lashing at her advance and raking the heavy pauldron on her left shoulder with its talons. She dipped her head behind the armor plating as a shower of sparks danced over her. She let loose her chain in a whirl of snapping links and it crashed against its flesh, but was quickly overwhelmed by slithering tentacles. The serpentine appendages pulled, seeking to yank Teneff off her feet, but she dug in her heels and held fast. She spun the short blade in her other hand, driving it into the creature’s flank again and again until the stone became slick with gore.
怪兽再次发出嚎叫，随后遭到三面的进攻。
阿蕾尔利落地摆出几个手势，然后她的猎犬纷纷跳到怪兽身上。尖牙利爪刺入它的外皮。怪兽扭动着上蹿下跳，想要把他们甩掉。几只猎犬纷纷被抛开，落到地上，但老三的嘴里撕下了一支翅膀。
“弗拉-德-阿克！”蒂法莲芝大吼一声，挥舞长剑，拖出一道翡翠的火焰。两条触手被切了下来，喷出一滩热气腾腾的蓝血，残肢化作肮脏粘腻的光，最后在空气的压力下彻底消失。流血的断口扭动了片刻，然后又生出新芽，每个被切断的触须都长出了三个新的触须，就如同树枝分叉那么轻松。
提涅芙冲上前去。怪兽怒嚎一声，迎面抽打过去，锋利的爪子击中了她左侧的护肩。她低头躲在肩甲护板后，一串火花飞溅她全身。她甩出流星索，钩锤打中了它的血肉，但很快就被蠕动着的触手淹没。蟒蛇一般的触手拽紧锁链，想要让提涅芙失去平衡，但她脚跟扎进地面，牢牢立在原地。她另一只手抽出一把短刀，一次次插入怪兽的侧身，直到脚下的石面被一层肉糜覆盖。
怪兽拍打起翅膀，让提涅芙向后飞去。她的流星钩锤依然深深嵌在怪兽的身体上，被突如其来的力量拉直，她的肩膀在拉力之下扭成了不正常的角度。她发出一声痛苦的吼叫，放开了流星索，向后撞上了巨石。
The beast beat its wings, sending Teneff flying back. Her chain, still embedded in the creature’s side, snapped taut, wrenching her shoulder at an unnatural angle. With a bellow of pain she released her hold on its barbed links, hurtling backward to crash against the stone.
俄拉斯向提涅芙跑去，但她伸出一只手制止了他。她回头看他，额头上的一道伤口已经把她整张脸染成血红。蒂法莲芝也冲向怪兽，嘴里念着另一段祷文，不过半空中就被许多条触手击中。
Erath sprang toward Teneff, but was warded off by her outstretched hand. She glared back at him, her face a mask of blood from a gash across her forehead. Tifalenji launched herself at the monster, another incantation flowing from her lips, but she was smashed from the air by a clutch of tentacles.
俄拉斯的每一寸血肉都在对他大喊，动起来，做点什么。他突然望向塔尔兹，然后咬紧牙。是时候轮到他发挥作用了。
Every fiber of Erath’s being screamed at him to move, to do something. He shot Talz a glance, and set his jaw. It was time to pull his weight.
他从侧面爬上那头龙蜥的后背，抓紧了缰绳，用脚后跟提了一下塔尔兹的侧腰。龙蜥发出低沉的吼叫，迈开了沉重的步伐。俄拉斯骑行向前，挡在了怪兽和提涅芙之间。一条触手向他的头打过来，他举起弯刀，一道寒光闪过，将触手切开。
Scrambling up the side of the basilisk, Erath took a tight hold of the reins and drove his heels into Talz’s flanks. The beast lumbered forward with a throaty grunt. Erath rode forward, placing himself between the creature and Teneff. A tentacle flicked at his face and he brought up his falchion in a blur of steel, slicing it away.
血流进了俄拉斯的双耳，他又挡开了一条触手，接下来准备向前冲锋。他俯身向前，迎战汹涌袭来的触手。
Blood pounded in Erath’s ears as he deflected another slashing limb, making ready to charge. He pushed forward, slicing into a swarm of tentacles assailing him.
“别碰我的仆人，你这野兽！”怪物背后传来一个声音。
“Stay clear of my manservant, beast!” came a voice from behind the creature.
亨丽埃塔小姐那优雅、矫健的身影从树林中出现。那匹爬虫坐骑向前冲刺，渴望着用新鲜的猎物点缀她的首饰。骑在她背上的，是同样渴望猎获的马莉特，她带着面罩，剑戟锋芒毕露，切开空气。
The sleek, agile silhouette of Lady Henrietta appeared from between the trees. The reptilian steed dashed forward, eager to coat her jewelry in a fresh kill. Seated upon her back, the masked figure of Marit laughed in equal eagerness, the blade of her glaive singing as it cut the air.
怪物再次发出刺耳的嚎叫，回身面对马莉特，转身的动作就像是没有骨骼和关节一样怪异。
With another piercing shriek the creature whirled around to face Marit in a disjointed, boneless spin.
“好的，就要你这股劲！”她掷出剑戟，在彻底出手之前抓住了长柄的末端。她向后仰，剑戟抡出大大的圆弧，随后又立刻收紧。锋刃沿着怪兽的身侧向上切割，削下了一整片出手和两支翅膀。怪兽退缩了，马莉特轻轻一跳，弓起身站到了亨丽埃塔的鞍座上。她借着武器的重量作平衡，一跃而起，跳到了怪兽的背上。
“Yes, that’s the spirit!” She flung out her glaive until she gripped the very end of it. She leaned back, spinning the spear in a wide arc before swinging it in closer. The blade slashed upward alongside the beast, shearing away an entire shoal of tentacles and two wings. The creature recoiled, and Marit hopped up to stand in a crouch on Henrietta’s saddle. Using her weapon for balance, she leapt up into the air before landing on the monster’s back.
她空出一只手抓住一根触须，顺势爬到了怪物的最高处，而怪物则疯狂地跳跃翻滚，想要把马莉特甩掉。她发出一声战吼，将剑戟的尖端刺入怪物头骨的根基，一股发光的血喷了上来，她回以一记凌厉的旋扭。怪兽刺耳的叫声突然停止，肢体瘫软，重重摔到地上。雨水终于正常地落下。
Clutching at a tentacle with her free hand, Marit scrambled up atop the beast as it bucked and rolled in a frenzied attempt to dislodge her. With a battle cry she plunged the tip of her glaive down into the base of the monster’s skull, and answered the steaming jets of glowing blood that splashed her with a sharp twist. The creature’s ear-splitting hiss was cut abruptly short as its limbs went slack and it toppled heavily to the ground. The rain fell normally again.
几个诺克萨斯人整理好自己，围着死去的怪兽站成一圈。俄拉斯从塔尔兹后背爬下来，依然不敢收起弯刀，因为他时刻都幻想着怪兽会再次站起来。
The Noxians collected themselves, joining together in a loose circle around the dead creature. Erath climbed down from Talz’s back, still wary of sheathing his blade as he imagined the beast rising once more.
马莉特拔出了剑戟，隔着皮质面甲吭了一声。“我感觉自己开始厌倦了，别总让我做你的天降救兵啊，符文工匠。”
Marit ripped her glaive loose with a grunt muffled by her leather mask. “I believe I am beginning to grow a touch weary of being your personal savior, runesmith.”
“这个怪兽，”蒂法莲芝说，“来自另一个领域。”
“That creature,” said Tifalenji. “It came from the other realm.”
“的确是吗？”马莉特提起一撇眉毛，“那，至少它留在这个领域的部分已经死了。”
“Indeed?” Marit raised an eyebrow. “Well, whatever part of it that is in this realm is dead.”
符文工匠抬头看那名骑手，“当这一切都结束以后，我将给你打造一把趁手的兵器，必让它配得上你的勇猛。”
The runesmith looked up at the rider. “When all this is finished, I shall craft you a weapon as savage as your spirit.”
马莉特对上她的目光，“这句话我可真记住了。”
Marit matched her gaze. “I may just hold you to that.”
“来的巧啊，马莉特。”提涅芙轻轻点了一下头。
“Well met, Marit,” Teneff dipped her head.
“是啊，”俄拉斯也一同拼命点头，“多谢了。”
“Yes,” Erath nodded hastily. “Thank you.”
阿蕾尔什么都没说。
Arrel said nothing.
“当然了，”马莉特的双眼露出笑容，然后夸张地致谢行礼。“要是没了仆人，这场旅行对我来说可就太难熬了。”她回头瞥了一眼怪物的尸体。“你说这玩意好吃吗？会不会有毒？”
“Of course,” Marit’s eyes smiled, and she gave a theatrical bow. “I’ll be damned if I have to endure any more of this adventure without the hired help.” She glanced back at the monster’s corpse. “Do you think this thing is good eating, or bursting with some ghastly poison?”
“要不你试试？”阿蕾尔不屑地说，“请自便。毕竟严格来讲，这是你的猎获。”
“You want to try it?” scoffed Arrel. “Be our guest. Only fair as it is your kill, after all.”
“好吧，”马莉特把头歪向一边，“这个小崽呢？”
“I see,” Marit tilted her head. “What about the little one?”
一行人全都看向那个小的怪物。它抬起头，浑身发抖。颤抖了片刻后，它炸成一片雪花的云雾，然后只剩下一个声音，最后荡然无存。
The Noxians all turned their attention to the smaller creature. Raising its head, the tiny monster trilled. It shivered for a moment before bursting into a cloud of snowflakes, which each then became a sound, and then nothing.
俄拉斯瞪着那片空地，缓缓呼出一口气。“谁再告诉我一遍，我们怎么会想要这片土地？”
Erath stared at the now empty space, releasing a breath slowly through his nose. “Someone tell me again, why do we want this place?”
“这里的帷幕很薄，”蒂法莲芝说着，抹干嘴唇上的血渍，收剑入鞘，“这片土地到处都是奇闻异事。不用在意。”
“The veil is thin here,” said Tifalenji, cuffing the trickle of blood from her upper lip as she sheathed her sword. “This land teems with the bizarre. Ignore it.”
“这片土地只剩下奇闻异事了。”俄拉斯喃喃地说。
“This land is nothing but bizarre,” Erath muttered.
马莉特轻快地跳到了怪兽尸体的头上，打响指让亨丽埃塔靠近。她把长戟戳进地面，然后拄着长柄，飞身跳回到鞍座上。
Marit stepped gingerly onto the skull of the dead creature, snapping her fingers to draw Henrietta close. Sinking her glaive into the earth, she pushed down on the end of the haft, using it like a vault to swing herself over onto the saddle once more.
“你在鞍子上坐了多久了，啊？”提涅芙说，“你可让亨丽埃塔小姐歇歇吧，行不行？。”
“How long have you been up in that saddle, eh?” teased Teneff. “Why don’t you give Lady Henrietta a rest?”
马莉特一脸不屑，“除非绝对必要，否则别再让我触碰艾欧尼亚的任何东西，谢谢。”
Marit scoffed. “I’m not touching Ionia any more than is absolutely necessary, thank you.”
“听起来某人憋尿已经憋了很久啊。”提涅芙不怀好意地笑。
“Sounds like an awful long time to hold one’s piss,” Teneff grinned.
“嗯，我这存了好多罐子，赏你一口？”马莉特开始在马鞍袋里翻找。俄拉斯浑身颤抖着，努力憋住不笑。
“Hmm, well I’ve some jars stashed away here somewhere, if you’re in need of a fresh batch?” Marit began to rummage through her saddle pouches. Erath’s shoulders shook as he stifled a laugh.
“能别说了么？”蒂法莲芝一脸厌恶地瞅着那两个女子。
“Can we not?” asked Tifalenji, looking at both women in exasperation.
提涅芙摇了摇头，“你可真没劲，符文工匠。”
Teneff shook her head. “You are no fun, runesmith.”
“真没劲。”马莉特附和道。她看了看俄拉斯，眼中透出残忍的狡猾。
“No fun at all,” echoed Marit. She looked to Erath, eyes narrowing into slits of cruel slyness.
“我说，仆人，我暂时还不完全讨厌你，所以既然说到了这个话题，作为亨丽埃塔小姐的照料者，有一件事你要小心。她的尿液是强酸性的，所以无论你在这场旅途中口渴到多么绝望，也不能打她的主意，懂吗？”
“Now, manservant, I don’t completely hate you yet, so whilst we are on the subject, a word of warning as you care for Lady Henrietta. Her urine is highly acidic, so no matter how desperate and overcome with thirst you might find yourself on our travels, you must look elsewhere, understand?”
“咋？”俄拉斯笑着说，“你的脸就是这么烧的吗？”
“Why?” Erath chuckled. “Is that what happened to your face?”
马莉特明显全身紧绷了起来。她的双眼突然瞪大了一下，手指也紧紧扣住剑戟的长柄。“不是。”她冷冷地撂下一个字，随后将亨丽埃塔的缰绳在手上缠了几圈，默默地离开了。
Marit visibly tensed. Her eyes flashed wide for an instant, fingers digging into the haft of her glaive. “No,” she said coldly, winding Henrietta’s reins around her free hand and riding off without another word.
俄拉斯脸上没了血色。“我——”
The color drained from Erath’s face. “I—”
“不用管，”提涅芙摇摇头说，“这段时间先别离她太近就好。”
“Let it be,” Teneff shook her head. “Just bide back a distance from her for a while.”
俄拉斯垂头丧气地回到塔尔兹身边。过了这么久，他刚开始感到自己略微融入了这个小队，感到一种归属。现在他觉得这感觉正在从指缝间流失，就像那个艾欧尼亚老者手中的茶。
Erath’s heart sank as he dragged himself back to Talz. After all this time, he had felt the faintest idea of being part of the group, of belonging. Now he felt it spill out between his fingers, like the elder Ionian’s tea.
他已经如此接近，然后他又亲手毁掉前程。
He had been so close, and he ruined it.The next week’s trek had been calm, or at least as calm as the wilds of Ionia could be to an outsider. The rains had ceased, and Erath savored marching over dry land for a change. The absence of bone-deep cold and the other miseries brought to a soldier by mud allowed him to truly see the natural splendour of Ionia in all its wondrous, breathtaking glory.
Everything was in subtle motion, from the dancing of the birds to the gentle sway of the multicolored trees. Even the chase between the predator and its prey, glimpsed for only an instant at a time in the spaces between the trees, unfolded in a sort of graceful harmony. It was as though they were all moving in concert to some silent melody that was just beyond Erath’s ability to experience, a wider world he inhabited, but couldn’t see.
随后一个星期的跋涉很平静，至少以艾欧尼亚荒野对外来者的标准来衡量，已经十分平静了。雨已经停了，俄拉斯珍稀地体会着在干爽地面上行走的感觉。没有了透骨的湿冷，也没有了其他悲惨的困境，他终于可以在行军的同时一睹艾欧尼亚的自然景观，欣赏它的壮丽奇景。
They had been proceeding along the course of an immense river ever since they made landfall on Navori, never straying out of sight from its banks for too long. Not only had it served as a source of food and fresh water, but as a guide deeper into the interior, as the huntresses followed the eerie song that radiated from Tifalenji’s blade.
一切都处于微妙的动态之中，无论是飞舞的鸟儿，还是轻轻摇摆、缤纷多彩的树木。就连在树影之间一闪而过的动物，猎食者和猎物之间的追逐，也展现出一种优雅的和谐。似乎一切都在伴着某个旋律的合奏而动，只不过俄拉斯无法感知到那场音乐会，这是一个更广大的世界，他生活在此，但却看之不见。
“Night soon,” said Teneff, glancing over at the runesmith.
自从他们踏上纳沃利的地界以后，就一直沿着一条大河行进，从来都不曾让河岸离开视线太久。这不仅是食物与淡水的来源，而且也是通往内陆更深处的向导，不过真正引领几名女猎手的，是蒂法莲芝长剑发出的诡异歌声。
Tifalenji’s eyes darted up at the swollen silver crescent of the moon, barely visible in the reddening sky. Erath thought he saw a moment of frustration flash across her features, before they become impassive and unreadable once more. “We’ll stop here, then.” She looked at Erath. “Make camp.”
“快要入夜了，”提涅芙说着，侧眼瞄着符文工匠。
“Second,” murmured Arrel. The hound presented himself. “Find Marit, bring her back.”
蒂法莲芝抬起目光望向宽厚的银色弯月，在泛红的天空中还很难辨认。俄拉斯似乎从她的表现上察觉到了片刻的气馁，但随后就恢复了平时那种摸不透的冷漠。“那，我们原地停下，”她看了看俄拉斯，“扎营。”
Second chuffed and turned, sprinting away into the deepening dusk. Marit had ridden ahead of the group since the incident after killing the creature, the thought sending a twist of regret in Erath’s gut.
“老二，”阿蕾尔低声说着，那头猎犬立刻来到近前，“去找马莉特，把她领回来。”
“I’ll go get some wood for a fire,” said Erath, drawing a hatchet from where it hung off Talz’s back.
老二兴奋地转过身，钻进了昏暗的暮色中。自从杀掉怪兽以后，马莉特就一直领先队伍一段距离，俄拉斯一想起来就觉得悔不当初。
“Take care in how you do,” warned Teneff. “The trees here are alive.”
“我去砍点柴火。”俄拉斯说着，从塔尔兹的背上取下一把短斧。
Erath frowned. “Aren’t all trees alive?”
“砍柴的时候小心点，”提涅芙发出警告，“这的树是活的。”
“She means they’ll-kill-you alive,” said Arrel.
俄拉斯皱起眉，“树不都是活的吗？”
Erath’s frown deepened.
“她说的是要把你杀死那种活的。”阿蕾尔说。
Night had fully descended, wrapping the world in a blanket of twinkling black velvet, by the time Erath had collected enough firewood. After the battle against the creature, he had opted to collect scattered branches from the ground rather than chop a fresh one loose and risk awakening some vicious animus within the tree that would seek one of his limbs to balance the scales.
俄拉斯皱眉皱得更紧了。
He returned to the campsite and made a fire. Once he was satisfied the embers were growing into a healthy flame, he slung a cooking pot and weighted net over his shoulder and made for the river. After checking how light their provision sacks had become, he hoped to return to camp with a fish.
黑夜已经彻底降临，将整个世界包裹在一闪一闪的黑绒布下，俄拉斯终于凑到了足够的柴薪。自从跟那只怪兽搏斗以后，他就开始选择从地上捡而不是从树上砍，生怕唤醒树木之中的恶毒和敌意，更怕被树木扯走自己的手脚以换回平衡。
他回到营地升起了篝火。等到火星逐渐变成熊熊烈焰，他在上面架起了锅，然后扛起了渔网走向河边。检查过所剩无几的食物储备以后，他希望能带着鱼获而归。
时间缓慢地流过，他蹲伏在岸边，望着粼粼的河面。他看到水里有动静，脉搏加速，然后投出了渔网，紧紧抓住再一点点收回到岸上。渔网里一条鲤鱼正在跳动。
The minutes stretched by as he crouched on the river bank, staring into its glassy black surface. His pulse quickened as he saw motion in the water, and he flung out the net, cinching it tight and hauling it back onto land. The net wriggled and leapt with a captive carp.
他大功告成地松了一口气，用罐子盛了些河水，把鲤鱼装了进去。
Breathing out a sigh of relieved triumph, Erath filled the pot with clear river water and dropped the carp inside.
他回到营地，脚步比出发时轻盈了许多，心里暗暗感谢这条鱼对诺克萨斯帝国做出的贡献。
He walked back to camp, his step much lighter than when he had set off as he thanked the fish for its devoted service to the Noxian empire.“It’s ready,” said Erath as he portioned the soup out in each warrior’s tin cup. He was careful to drag the ladle across the bottom of the pot every time. When he had handed out the last cup he poured what was left for himself, and took a seat near the fire.
For a while no one spoke, each of them content to enjoy the comforts of a hot meal and the crackling warmth of the fire. Erath was no exception, happy to fill his belly and give rest to sore feet and tired muscles.
“煮好了。”俄拉斯说着，把烫分到每一名战士的铁碗中。他每盛一勺都小心地在锅底刮一圈。每人都分完了以后，他把剩下的倒给了自己，围着篝火坐了下来。
For that brief span of time, nothing else mattered.
一开始谁都没说话，每个人都在享受暖胃的晚餐和温热的篝火。俄拉斯也不例外，他很高兴能填饱肚子、歇一歇酸痛的双脚和力竭的肌肉。
Each of the Noxians did their best to attempt some relaxation. Arrel was surrounded by her hounds, carefully inspecting their claws and teeth. Tifalenji had walked a short distance away, sitting cross legged beneath the light of the moon as she chanted and wrapped her levitating blade in magic. Teneff had taken out a battered pipe, slowly breathing out quivering rings of blue-grey smoke that crackled in the firelight.
在这短暂的时间里，其他一切都不再重要。
“You still use that thing, Ten?” Marit looked down from where she lounged atop Lady Henrietta’s back. “You do know that stuff will kill you.”
他们每个人都尽可能地让自己放松下来。阿蕾尔被她的猎犬围绕着，仔细地检查它们的爪子和牙齿。蒂法莲芝走到了一段距离以外，盘腿坐在月光下，念起祷文，将浮在半空中的符文长剑包裹在魔法中。提涅芙拿出一杆破旧的烟袋，缓缓吐出灰蓝色的烟圈，在火光的映照下渐渐裂散。
Teneff shook her head. “This won’t be what kills me. Besides, I’m not allowing myself to die until this business is done.”
“你还在抽那玩意呢，提子？”马莉特躺在亨丽埃塔小姐的背上向下望，“那玩意抽多了会要你命的，知道吧？”
Erath felt everyone’s thoughts coalesce, and cleared his throat. Teneff looked at him.
提涅芙摇了摇头，“要我命的不会是这个。再说，这件事办完之前，我也不允许自己咽气。”
“This person we’ve been sent to find,” said Erath.
俄拉斯感觉大家的想法已经汇聚到同一处，于是清了清嗓子。提涅芙看向他。
“Riven,” said Arrel softly.
“这个我们要去找的人，”俄拉斯说。
“You all knew her?”
“锐雯。”阿蕾尔轻轻地说。
Tifalenji allowed her sword to drop into her hands. “Only by reputation.”
“你们都认识她吗？”
“I shed blood alongside her, when first we came to these shores,” said Teneff, staring into the flames. “Tough little thing, you wouldn’t guess it by looking at her but she could haul a pair of legionaries down to her level, each by an ear. That sword of hers, took incredible strength to even lift it.”
蒂法莲芝让剑落回到她手上，“我只是听说过她。”
“Let alone the dancing she could do,” added Marit.
“我跟她一起流过血，我们是一起踏上这里的海岸的。”提涅芙凝望着火焰说道，“她是个不服软的小妹，光看外表根本看不出来，但她能把两个军团士兵拽到与自己的目光平齐，一手拽一只耳朵。还有她的巨剑，看上去仅仅是举起来就已经力大无穷了。”
Erath noticed the runesmith out of the corner of his eye, regarding Teneff carefully at the mention of the blade. The uncomfortable thought rose in his mind of how little he truly knew about Tifalenji, and how thoroughly his life depended on her now.
“更不用说她舞着剑还能跳来跳去。”马莉特添了一句。
“She was quiet at first,” said Marit, “mostly kept to herself.”
俄拉斯用余光注意看如文工匠，一听到那把巨剑，符文工匠就开始小心打量起提涅芙。他心里突然一阵慌张，因为他意识到自己对真正的蒂法莲芝毫不了解，而他自己的性命却彻底都要指望她的判断。
“But stand together in the line with someone,” continued Teneff, “forge that bond with iron and blood…”
“她起初不愿意跟生人说话，”马莉特说，“大多数时候都自己闷着。”
“You become sisters,” Arrel finished.
“但只要跟一个人并肩作战，”提涅芙继续说，“用铁与血铸造纽带……”
Silence descended, the three huntresses lost amidst their thoughts.
“就成为了姐妹。”阿蕾尔说出了最后一句。
“Why did she stay here?” said Marit, a thin edge creeping into the words. “All these years, everything that’s happened. Why did she betray us?”
沉默降下，三名女猎手都沉浸在各自的思绪中。
“We don’t know what happened,” said Teneff.
“她为什么要留在这？”马莉特的语气里悄悄掺进了锐意，“这么多年，发生了这么多事。她为什么背叛了我们？”
Marit snorted. “Don’t play the imbecile, Ten. It does not suit you.”
“我们还不知道究竟发生了什么。”提涅芙说。
“You think I don’t seek to bring her to account?” Teneff stood and rounded on Marit. “Why else am I here?”
马莉特吭了一声，“别装傻了，提子。你装不像。”
“Years, she’s been here,” Marit replied, unmoving. “Years. Every opportunity to report back, and she didn’t. She is a deserter, and theirs is a weakness we cannot abide. A treachery we cannot forgive. We are here to seek vengeance.”
“你以为我不想找她算账吗？”提涅芙站起来面对马莉特，“那我还来这干嘛？”
“Don’t call it vengeance,” said Arrel. “This will be justice.”
“她在这活了好几年了，”马莉特淡然地说，“好几年了。有那么多机会归队，但她没有。她就是逃兵，而逃兵是我们不能容忍的软弱。是不能原谅的背叛。我们到这里来就是为了复仇。”
“Call it whatever you wish,” Marit replied. “Riven made her choice, and we are the consequence.”Erath tried to sleep, but despite his exhaustion it eluded him. He had seen the power the huntresses wielded when they worked together. Who was this person who was able to divide them without even being there? Who was Riven, who had left such a mark on each of them?
“不是复仇，”阿蕾尔说，“这是为了正义。”
The questions swirled around his head, though they slowly began to sink down beneath a promise of rest, before it was shattered by a voice.
“随便你怎么称呼，”马莉特答道，“锐雯做出了自己的选择，我们就是她迎来的后果。”
“Up!”
Erath stirred. It was Teneff, standing watch.
俄拉斯努力入睡，但纵使他筋疲力尽，也难以合眼。他已经在合力作战的时候看到了几名女猎手的实力。然而她们却因为一个并不在场的人产生了分歧，这个锐雯究竟是什么人，为何能在她们每个人心里都留下如此凝重的痕迹。
“Get up!” she bellowed again, clanging her short sword against her armor. “The river is flooding!”
这些问题在他脑海中萦绕，随后开始渐渐沉淀下去，被期许中的安宁慢慢覆盖，最后一个声音将一切击碎。
The Noxians scrambled to their feet. Erath turned to look at the riverbank, and his blood ran cold.
“起！”
Something had roiled the current, transforming it from a peaceful flow into a riot of churning rapids. Erath saw human faces take shape in the foaming walls of rushing water, boiling into being and mouthing silent, enraged curses before dissolving back. All the while it rose toward them, devouring the bank inch by inch.
俄拉斯惊醒了。是提涅芙，她负责守夜。
The river wasn’t flooding. It was alive.
“起来！”她又喊了一声，然后用短剑不断敲打在自己的盔甲上。“河水泛滥了！”
“Get to the treeline!” barked Tifalenji.
诺克萨斯小队一行人立刻爬了起来。俄拉斯扭头去看河岸，然后他的心凉了半截。
Teneff was already running. Marit had only to spin into a riding position on Lady Henrietta before they were darting for the trees. Erath’s first thought was Talz.
水流被搅动了起来，从平静的缓流变成了激荡的潮涌。俄拉斯在浪花和泡沫的水壁之中看到了人脸的形状，翻滚着出现，说出无声的愤怒咒骂，然后又消融在河水中。整个过程中，河水一直在上涨，一寸一寸地漫过河岸。
He hurried to the basilisk, taking hold of whatever he could from the camp as the ground beneath him turned to a marshy quagmire. Water rushed over his boots as he reached the massive reptile. He looked back just in time to see another great swell smash down over Arrel.
河水并不是在泛滥。河水活了。
And it looked like it had hands.
“上树！”蒂法莲芝大吼一声。
Prying out the stakes rooting Talz in place, Erath started climbing onto his back before the basilisk charged. Erath clung to the straps and rigging on the beast’s flank for dear life as the water surged after them. He hauled himself up, his legs swinging free, head ducking as equipment, tools and what remained of their food supply tore loose.
提涅芙已经跑了起来。马莉特勉强在亨丽埃塔小姐身上变换成骑乘的坐姿，然后就立刻向树林的方向奔去。俄拉斯首先想到的是塔尔兹。
They made it to the trees, and Erath climbed as the water battered them. Talz clawed himself up to his hind legs to keep his head above the surface, each fresh surge crashing higher up his back and neck. Erath looked back. Teneff and Marit were clear, but Arrel and her hounds were caught in the swamp their camp had become, slowly being sucked back into the river.
他连忙跑到那头龙蜥身边，此时脚下的土地已经变成了泥泞的沼泽。水深很快就超过了他的靴口，这时他来到了龙蜥的身边。他回头看去，刚好看到又一道水墙拍到阿蕾尔身上。
Erath braced as another swell struck him like a hail of stones. The tree next to him sagged, nearly snapping from its trunk. He looked from the tree to back at Arrel, and dropped down into water that reached his waist.
水中似乎有无数只手。
Grabbing the hatchet from Talz, he swung, chopping into the wet bark of the ailing tree. He swore he heard some mournful note rasp from its leaves as it finally broke, smashing down at an angle toward the river. Erath watched a cluster of shapes approach it.
将塔尔兹固定在原地的木桩被俄拉斯拔出，他爬上龙蜥的身侧，塔尔兹立刻开始冲刺。俄拉斯紧紧抓着龙蜥侧面的绑带，现在这就是他的命。河水正在他们身后激荡，俄拉斯双脚悬空，用双手的力量往上爬，缩头躲闪从龙蜥背上散落下来的装备、工具和为数不多的食物储备。
他们抵达了树林，俄拉斯开始爬树，而上涨的河水也已经拍打过来。塔尔兹前爪搭在树上，用后退站立，将头保持在水面以上，每一次潮涌都顺着他的后背和脖子往上漫。俄拉斯向后看，提涅芙和马莉特已经安全了，但阿蕾尔和她的猎犬被困在了营地所在的地方，现在那里已经变成了一片湿地，正在被河水渐渐吞没。
俄拉斯抱紧树干，迎接又一轮泥石流一般的波浪。他旁边的大树被冲弯了腰，差点就要从中间折断。他回头看阿蕾尔，随后跳进齐腰深的水中。
他从塔尔兹身上取下短斧，劈向那颗弯腰的树。他发誓自己听到树叶之间传来了某种悲哀的音调，然后树干终于折断了，倒向河流中心的方向。俄拉斯看到一团黑影游了过去。
那是阿蕾尔的猎犬。他们把阿蕾尔围在中间，拖着她上了浮木。不过猎犬只有三只。
Arrel’s hounds. They were paddling in a circle around her, dragging her up onto the tree. But there were only three of them.
第二天破晓，水开始退去，金色的阳光透过树丛洒下来，映出波光粼粼的水面。一声哀嚎响彻河岸，犹如溺死之人奏出的哀乐，伴着波涛退回到河床里。
The waters began to recede as the first light of day broke through the foliage in bars of copper and gold. They glittered across the water. A horrific sound, like a dirge being played by a drowning man, filled the air as the tide slid back into the river.
马莉特骑行返回，提涅芙从树上下来，所有人都来到阿蕾尔和那颗被砍断的树旁。她已经领着猎犬沿着退了水的河岸扫了一遍。
Marit galloped back, and Teneff climbed down, all of them converging on Arrel and the fallen tree. She had followed the bank, scanning the becalmed waters with her pack.
“老二！”她大喊着，间隔片刻，“老二……”
“Second!” she called, pausing. “Second…”
“他被水没过去了，阿蕾尔”提涅芙说。她把一只手轻轻放在她肩上，“我很抱歉。”
“He was carried beneath the water, Arrel,” said Teneff. She laid a tentative hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry.”
阿蕾尔的手颤抖着，渐渐握成了拳，然后她咬紧牙。
Arrel’s hand shook. She balled them into fists and set her jaw into a hard line.
“我们正在浪费时间，”追猎手低声说着，抖开了提涅芙的手。她站起来，一个凌厉的手势唤回了所有凝望河岸的猎犬。老四迟疑了片刻，但阿蕾尔的怒视立刻让他小跑跟上。
“We’re wasting time here,” the tracker croaked, shrugging off Teneff’s hand. She stood, sharply gesturing to bring the other hounds from their somber watch on the riverbank. Fourth lingered a second longer than the others, but a glare from Arrel brought him trotting to her.
俄拉斯一个激灵，太阳光暗下去了。他伸出手，感觉到手掌上雨点的重量。他们又要接受雨天的折磨了。
Erath flinched as the sunlight faded. He held out his hand, feeling heavy drops as they struck his palm. Their short reprieve from the rain was over.Within minutes the sun was gone, hidden behind heavy black stormclouds. The rain was joined by howling gales, whipping the downpour into twisting sheets of freezing water. The cold sliced through Erath to the bone. He could barely see an arm’s length in front of his face. It even forced Marit to dismount from Lady Henrietta.
Tifalenji held her sword aloft. With a whisper, the blade burst with emerald flame, forcing back the storm’s blinding winds a fraction. Teneff retrieved a length of rope from Talz, looping it around each of their waists to bind them together.
不到几分钟，太阳就躲进阴沉的雨云后面找不见了。下雨的同时还刮起了强风，普通的雨变成了一波波冰冷的寒浪。寒意刺骨，俄拉斯几乎只能看清一臂以内的距离。甚至马莉特都不得不从亨丽埃塔小姐的身上下来。
Leaning into the wind and lashing rain, the Noxians wandered forward behind Tifalenji, a tiny capsule of green light in the maelstrom. Time blurred for Erath as he trudged on. He couldn’t tell if it had been minutes or hours before Tifalenji spoke up.
蒂法莲芝举起长剑。随着一声轻语，剑身迸发出翡翠色的火焰，稍稍挡回了些许狂风。提涅芙从塔尔兹身上取来一捆绳子，绑在每个人的腰上防止走散。
“We have to stop,” she roared over the wind.
诺克萨斯小队一行人顶风冒雨，走在最前面的蒂法莲芝就像风暴中的一小团绿色的烛火。艰苦的跋涉让俄拉斯模糊了时间。他不知道过了几分钟还是几小时以后，蒂法莲芝说话了。
“Look!” Marit pointed with her glaive. “There’s light up ahead!”
“我们得停下了，”她大声盖过强风。
Erath could make out the faintest cluster of lights, like a constellation in the heavens.
“看！”马莉特用她的剑戟指向前方，“前面有光！”
“This is wild country,” warned Teneff. “It could be bandits, or a Brotherhood camp for all we know.”
俄拉斯只能看清一团极其微弱的光点，就像星空中的星座。
“Then we kill them all,” hissed Marit. “The rune-witch is right. We have no supplies, and if we do not take shelter, this storm will end us.”
“这里是荒野，”提涅芙警觉地说，“可能是强盗，或者是兄弟会的营地，还可能是别的。”
Teneff spat out a mouthful of rainwater, and nodded. Together they fought the storm, putting one foot ahead of the other, until they reached the lights.
“不管是什么都杀光，”马莉特说，“我们的符文妖婆说的对，我们已经没有补给，如果不找地方避风，就会死在这风暴中。”
The trees overhead formed an overhang, absorbing the worst of the storm. A village materialized before them, small and isolated amidst the woods. It looked like an extension of the forest itself, the tall, thin dwellings appearing woven and sculpted. They could just see them over a wall of intertwined branches barring their way, as though the land itself had formed a stockade. The branches shuddered, peeling apart enough to create a small passage.
提涅芙吐出一口雨水，点了点头。她们一起顶着风暴，一步接着一步，最后来到了光亮所在的地方。
A dozen men and women stepped through the opening. They wore hand-spun robes, faces hidden behind hoods raised against the storm. The huntresses noted the axes and swords in their hands, the broad slab-like blades chipped and worn. The battered remnants of armor plating they were clad in.
前方的树林组成了致密的华盖，吸收了大部分的风雨。他们前方出现了一个村落，在树林中显得渺小而孤独。乍看上去就像是森林本身的延伸，那些瘦高的住宅就像是被编织、雕刻而成的。横在他们面前的是一堵枝杈交织形成的墙，似乎是这片土地本身形成的阻拦。枝杈抖动，撤出一块空白，勉强足以让人通过。
The huntresses formed a line, with Erath and Talz behind them.
十多个人从开口处走出来，其中有男有女。他们穿着简易制作的长袍，戴着遮面的罩帽抵挡风雨。几名女猎手注意到他们手上拿的剑和斧，刀刃有许多处崩卷。他们身上的盔甲也都是坑洼不平的残缺品。
“Those are Noxian weapons,” said Teneff.
几名女猎手组成一道阵线，俄拉斯和塔尔兹在后面。
“And those are Noxians carrying them,” added Arrel.
“他们拿的是诺克萨斯的兵器。”提涅芙说。
As one they sank into battle postures. Arrel’s hounds snarled.
“拿兵器的人也都是诺克萨斯人。”阿蕾尔补充道。
“Lower your weapons,” said the lead villager in perfect Va-Noxian. He pulled back his hood to reveal a scarred face, his dark hair and beard shot through with streaks of silver. “We don’t want a fight.”
对方有一人摆出战斗姿势，阿蕾尔的猎犬纷纷发出低吼。
“Well, you are deserters,” sneered Marit. She spat upon the ground.
“请放低武器，”为首的村民用标准的瓦-诺克萨斯语说道，他摘下罩帽，露出一张带着伤疤的脸，黑色的头发和胡须中掺着几缕银丝。“我们不想打。”
“Remember what’s behind us,” Teneff grumbled under her breath.
“要知道，你们都是逃兵。”马莉特轻蔑地说道，同时往地上啐了一口。
“Realize what’s in front of us!” Marit snapped.
“不忘身后，”提涅芙低声说。
“Stop!” Erath pushed his way between the huntresses. There was something about the man, hearing his voice. He stepped forth with trembling hands. He regarded the lead Noxian with wide eyes.
“认清眼前！”马莉特厉声喊出。
A single tear descended the curve of his cheek.
“停！”俄拉斯挤到女猎手前面。为首的村民有点特别，尤其是声音。他双手颤抖着走上前，瞪大双眼打量对面的那个诺克萨斯人。
“Father?”The man led Erath out of the storm into one of the huts, passing onlookers, Noxian and Ionian alike, their faces expressing a spectrum of shock and anger to fear. Erath followed him, as though in a trance, struggling to believe that this was Jobin, his father.
一滴泪划过他的脸颊。
Alive.
“父亲？”
“You look like you’ve missed a meal or two,” said Jobin. The two sat down around a fire pit. Jobin opened a steaming pot, scooping out a measure of rice into a pair of wooden bowls and handing Erath one. “My son, what are you doing here?”
They talked, of Erath’s journey, of home. He omitted much, careful as he spoke with a man he thought was dead.
那个人领着俄拉斯离开风暴，走进一间小棚，经过了旁观的人，既有诺克萨斯人也有艾欧尼亚人，他们的表情有惊讶有愤怒有恐惧。俄拉斯跟着他，精神恍惚，依然无法相信眼前的人是乔宾，是他的父亲。
When they were done, Jobin’s eyes gleamed in the firelight. “Look at you. You’re a man now. My little enhasyi.” He paused. “How is your mother?”
活生生的。
“Still mourning you,” Erath said, trying to keep the bitterness from his voice. He removed the bone pendant from his neck. “Who even is this?”
“看来你饿肚子了。”乔宾说。二人坐在火坑前，乔宾打开一个热气腾腾的小锅，往两支木碗里各盛了一勺米饭，递给俄拉斯一碗。“我的儿子，你来这干什么？”
“Me,” Jobin raised a hand, showing where one finger ended in a stump. “A sacrifice we all sent back, that we hoped might bring you peace.”
他们聊起了俄拉斯的旅程，聊起了家乡。他省略了许多事，毕竟他正在跟一个原以为已经死去的人说话。
吃完饭，乔宾的眼神在火光中闪烁，“瞧瞧你啊。都已经长大成人了。我的孩子。”他停顿了片刻。“你妈怎么样？”
“还在守丧，”俄拉斯说道，努力不让声音里透出恨意。他从脖子上摘下那枚骨制坠饰，“这玩意是谁啊？”
“是我。”乔宾举起一只手，上面一根手指只剩下短短一截。“我们所有人都做出了牺牲，为了把自己送回去，希望让你们安宁。”
“安宁。”俄拉斯伴着叹息说出这个词。
“Peace,” Erath exhaled the word.
在这里游历了数周，见到了这么多野生魔法、无常幻象和莫名恐怖，他必须问出这个最显然的问题。
After weeks traversing a realm of wild magic, of illusion and the uncanny, he had to ask the obvious question.
“你是真的吗？”
“Are you real?”
乔宾诧异地向前倾，“什么？”
Jobin leaned forward. “What?”
“你是真的吗？”俄拉斯又问一遍，“还是说某种魔法让我以为自己的父亲还没死？如果这是一场骗局的话，我会感谢你，真的，只要别是其他种解释。”
“Are you real?” Erath said again. “Or a spell to make it appear my father is not truly dead? If it is deception I would thank you, I truly would, for all that the alternative would mean.”
这一刻，他们二人都没有说话。寂静被拉得很长。
For a few moments, neither spoke. The silence stretched.
“从前世界很小，”乔宾最后打破了沉默，“你从来都不知道。我们照料牧群，我们与邻邦交易，我们养家糊口。我们的生活很简单，也很幸福。然后帝国来了，然后我们的小世界变得无比大，也无比黑暗。”
“The world used to be so small,” said Jobin, finally. “You never knew it. We tended our herds, we traded with our neighbors, we raised families. We had simple lives and we were happy. Then the empire came, and our little world became so much bigger, and so much darker.”
他向门外望了一眼，“在这里，看到这个地方，我又回到了从前。”
He glanced out the door of the hut. “Being here, seeing this place, it brought me back to that.”
“宁可谋反？”俄拉斯问。
“And that was worth treachery?” asked Erath.
“谋谁的反？”乔宾迎着他的目光，“那个山高水远的、我从没见过的大统领？为了让他在地图上做记号？他做的记号都是人，俄拉斯。诺克萨斯人，艾欧尼亚人。我们从一开始就不该打这场仗。”
“Against what?” Jobin looked back at him. “Against some distant ruler I would never meet, pushing markers across maps? Those markers are people, Erath. Noxian people, Ionian people. We should have never begun this war.”
“可我们联合到一起才更强大，”俄拉斯固执地说，“诺克萨斯并没有禁锢我们，它解放了我们。牧群不再逐年消瘦，邻邦不再前来掠夺。我们在这里做的是一样的事。你已经离开了太久，诺克萨斯已经和你记忆中的不一样了。我们真的融入了一个更伟大的整体。”
“But we are stronger together,” Erath insisted. “Noxus didn’t put us in chains, it set us free. No more herds growing thinner every year, no more raids from those same neighbors. And we can do the same here. You’ve been gone a long time, it isn’t the Noxus you remember. We’ve truly become part of something greater.”
“不会有什么改变的。”乔宾摇了摇头，“我们来到这里的时候，怀着与你一样的信念，我们相信这个地方需要诺克萨斯。俄拉斯，我现在觉得他们并不需要我们的帮助，他们也不需要我们的统治，但我们可以共存。我不需要杀他们，就可以与他们成为家人。当我意识到这一点的时候，我就知道自己回不去了。”
“I don’t believe much has changed,” Jobin shook his head. “We came here believing what you believe, that this place needed Noxus. ’Rath, I don’t think they need our help, and they don’t need our rule, but we can coexist. I didn’t have to kill them, to become family. Once I understood that, I knew I couldn’t return.”
俄拉斯琢磨着父亲的话，垂下了头。“你教过我的一切都是谎言。”
Erath processed his father’s words, and hung his head. “Everything you taught me was a lie.”
“抱歉，我的儿子。”乔宾一只手搭在俄拉斯的肩上。“我自己也被同样的谎言所欺骗。但改变始终都来得及。变得更好。这里也同样有你的位置。”
“I’m sorry, my son.” Jobin laid a hand on Erath’s shoulder. “I was deceived myself by it. But there is always time for something different. Something better. There is a place for you, here.”
“说谎。”俄拉斯缓缓抬起目光，“我现在又为什么要信你？”
“A lie,” Erath repeated. Slowly, he looked up. “So why should I believe you now?”
乔宾明显动摇了。“我的儿子……”
Jobin visibly sagged. “My son…”
“不，”俄拉斯的目光强硬，“你别想狡辩。你切了一根手指，我已经失去了你！现在你却坐在这里，躲在树林里，头头是道？我们没加入帝国以前还有一个借口，说自己看不见更大的世界。我们已经不再无知了。现在你要么为了统一世界而努力，要么就是在逃避。”
“No,” Erath’s eyes were hard. “You don’t get to do that. You lost a finger, I lost you! And now you sit there and preach, as you hide in the woods? We had an excuse before we joined the empire, of being blind to the wider world. We don’t have that ignorance anymore. Now you are either working to unite the world, to make it better, or you’re running.”
俄拉斯站了起来。
Erath stood.
“我不会逃避。”
“I’m not running.”Erath and Jobin emerged from the hut. The blade squire looked up, seeing the clouds thinning through the canopy of the trees. The rain had slackened as well.
“Think upon what I’ve said, my son,” said Jobin.
俄拉斯和乔宾从小棚里走出来。剑僮抬起头，透过树林的华盖看到乌云已经开始消散。雨势也弱了下来。
“I have,” Erath replied, stepping away to stand beside the huntresses.
“想想我刚才的话，儿子。”乔宾说。
Jobin swallowed, and cleared his throat. “We have offered you shelter. Now that the storm is passing, we will offer you a portion of our harvest. We ask in return only that you leave us in peace, and forget you ever found this place.”
“想过了。”俄拉斯答道，回到了几名女猎手身边。
Teneff eyed the runesmith. She tilted her head, and the huntresses stepped back to confer amongst themselves.
乔宾咽了一下口水，清了清嗓子，“我们向你们提供了避风港，现在风暴已经过去，我们将向你们提供收成的一部分。相应地，我们请求你们和平地离开，忘记这个地方。”
“The only question worth asking,” said Marit, “is if we kill them all.”
提涅芙看了一眼符文工匠。她歪过头，几名女猎手后撤几步小声商量。
“His father is among them,” Teneff nodded toward Erath.
“唯一有意义的问题是，”马莉特说，“要不要把他们杀光。”
“His father is a traitor,” Marit replied.
“里面有他父亲。”提涅芙朝俄拉斯努了努嘴。
“He isn’t the only one,” said Arrel. “Close to half of this village are Noxian… or were.”
“他父亲是叛徒。”马莉特回应道。
“Scared of getting your hounds dirty?” Marit ran a finger down the edge of her glaive.
“不只他一个，”阿蕾尔说，“这村子里将近一半都是诺克萨斯人……或者说曾经是。”
“Slaughtering cowards and villagers finds us Riven how?” the tracker retorted.
“不想脏了你的猎犬吗？”马莉特一根手指拂过剑戟的锋刃。
Erath looked to Tifalenji. The runesmith held the lives of these villagers—the life of his father—in her hands. For the life of him, Erath couldn’t decide what he wanted her to say, and that more than anything turned his heart to a lead weight in his chest. The huntresses studied her too, trying to parse her impassive features for her judgment.
“屠杀懦夫和平民能帮我们找到锐雯吗？”追猎手反驳道。
Teneff rested a hand on her chain. “What’s it to be, then?”
俄拉斯看向蒂法莲芝，现在符文工匠手里握着村民的命——包括他的父亲。俄拉斯这辈子头一次，不知道自己该期待得到什么样的答案，而这种感觉让他的心沉重得像铅砣。几名女猎手也在看着蒂法莲芝，从她冷漠的举止中猜不出任何迹象。
“We move on,” Tifalenji stated. “Our task is to find one deserter, and these are not her.” She eyed Marit. “It is not a discussion.”
提涅芙一只手放在流星索的铁链上。“那，到底怎么办？”
“As you wish,” she shrugged, walking back to her mount. Tifalenji looked sternly upon Erath.
“我们上路。”蒂法莲芝说，“我们的任务是找到一个逃兵，而这些人里没有她。”她看了一眼马莉特，“这不是建议。”
“遵命。”她耸了耸肩，走回坐骑旁边。蒂法莲芝严厉地俯视俄拉斯。
“如果换成别的情况，我是绝不会留他们活命的。”
“Were the circumstances different, I would not condone leaving them here alive.”
“我知道。”俄拉斯答道。
“I understand,” Erath replied.
“抓紧动起来吧，”蒂法莲芝命令道，“时间紧迫，你们也都知道前面就快到了。”
“Now make haste,” ordered Tifalenji. “Time is against us, and you know what lies ahead.”
女猎手们集合整备，走出了村落。穿过木栅的时候俄拉斯最后回头看了一眼，然后碰了一下提涅芙的胳膊。“前面就快到哪了？”
The huntresses gathered and began the march out of the village. Erath spared a final look back as they passed through the unfolding stockade, then touched Teneff’s arm. “What lies ahead?”
她表情严峻，目光空洞。“这一切开始的地方。”
Her face turned grim, and her eyes distant. “The place where all this started.”They marched in silence, though troubled thoughts made it feel as though Erath were pushing his way through a crowd. He couldn’t reconcile the man who raised him with the one he discovered living in that village. A son is raised in the image of his father, but does he end up the same person?
The bone pendant around his neck grated against his chest.
他们默默地行进，但胡乱的思绪让俄拉斯觉得自己正在汹涌的人潮中推挤。他无法相信，那个把他养大的人和那个村落里的人是同一个。儿子会追随父亲的身影，但最后真的会成为同样的人吗？
The landscape changed, growing more arid and dry, as did the dispositions of the huntresses. Postures stiffened, reflexes had them twitching at the slightest sound, and all three had their weapons drawn, clutched in white-knuckle grips. Erath could smell a faintly acrid tang in the air.
他脖子上的骨制坠饰抵在胸前剐蹭着。
The Noxians crested a hill, and witnessed a dusty expanse of dessicated plains ahead. A marker was erected at the border to the plain, little more than a stone totem marked with Ionian script. He could not decipher it, but the meaning behind it was clear to Erath.
地貌变了，大地变得更加干旱荒芜，几名女猎手的状态也更紧绷。她们的姿势剑拔弩张，稍微有点动静都会引起一番惊动。全部三名女猎手都抽出武器，紧紧握在手里。俄拉斯能在空气中嗅到一丝辛辣的异味。
It was a warning, to stay away.
一行人登上一座小丘，放眼望去，前方是一片干旱荒芜的平原。平原的边缘立着一座石碑，只比图腾柱稍大一点，上面刻着艾欧尼亚的文字。俄拉斯不认识，但上面的意思很明显。
They found an old man sitting by the marker. Quietly he hummed to himself, flicking a necklace of chimes he wore looped around his shoulders. His eyes grew wide as the Noxians approached, and using a cane for support, he slowly pushed himself to his feet.
这是一句警告，要他们离开。
“Travelers,” he raised a hand. “I have no part in any quarrel, and serve no master. I keep vigil here, at the threshold of a terrible place, to ward off those who might seek to cross.”
一位老者正坐在石碑旁边。他正自顾自地悄悄哼唱，肩膀前松松垮垮地戴着一串项链，项链底部挂着几个铃铛，正在叮叮作响。他看到诺克萨斯一行人接近，瞪大了双眼，然后拄着拐棍，慢慢站起来。
The huntresses were silent. Erath had never seen such tension radiating from them. Tifalenji stepped forward.
“各位旅者，”他抬起了一只手，“我与世无争，也不为任何势力卖命。我只是在此守路，此处通往一个可怕的地方，我的职责是告诫过往行人不要穿过。”
“We wish no harm to you, gatekeeper,” she said. “But do not seek to bar our passage.”
几名女猎手没有说话。俄拉斯从未见过她们散发出如此强烈的紧张气息。蒂法莲芝向前一步。
“I beg you,” the Ionian clasped his tiny hands together, “go no further. You cannot imagine the pain that occurred here.”
“我们不想伤害你，守路人。”他说，“但请你不要阻拦我们。”
“We don’t have to,” answered Teneff, as she walked past.
“我诚挚的恳求，”艾欧尼亚老者双手合十，“不要再前进了。你们无法想象这里曾经发生过的苦痛。”
Erath followed, passing the dejected Ionian by. “I will sing for you,” said the gatekeeper. “For your pain.”
“我们不需要想象。”提涅芙说着，径直走了过去。
The first step onto the dusty plain, and Erath felt like he had been transported somewhere alien, even for Ionia. It was absolutely devoid of life. The ground had a sickly, greenish tint, and the air was sour, stinging his nose and throat. His eyes and lips tingled.
俄拉斯跟了上去，从那个失落的老者身旁路过。“我会为你们歌唱，”守路人说，“安抚你们的痛苦。”
A profound sense of loss emanated from the earth like a haze, stabbing into Erath.
刚一踏上这片荒漠平原，俄拉斯就感觉自己被送到了某个异样的地方，即使以艾欧尼亚的标准也显得非常异样。这里不存在任何生命。大地泛着一种病态的浅绿色，空气酸涩，蛰疼他的鼻腔和咽喉。他的双眼和嘴唇也感到刺痛。
Teneff stopped, slowly taking in the landscape.
土缝之中弥漫出一种深沉的失落气息，刺穿了俄拉斯。
“This is where it happened.”
提涅芙停下脚步，细细看过四周的地形。
“It was here,” breathed Tifalenji, the runes along her blade pulsing. She blinked. “She was here.”
“就是在这个地方。”
“We had been fighting for years,” said Teneff. “Everything ground to a stalemate. They said they had a way to break through, brought us some mad Zaunite and his concoction.”
“在这里，”蒂法莲芝喘息着说，她剑身上的符文在闪烁。她眨了眨眼。“她当时就在这。”
“Chemical fire,” Arrel murmured.
“我们经过多年鏖战，”提涅芙说，“全线遭遇僵局。他们说他们有办法突破，带来了一个祖安人，还有他的药剂。”
“Something so caustic it would strip the life out of anything it touched,” said Marit. “We were safeguarding the payload, moving it up to the line, when it all went wrong.”
“炼金火焰。”阿蕾尔小声说。
Erath looked from one huntress to the next as their words flowed over each other.
“那种苛性药剂能夺走一切生命，只要碰上就完，”马莉特说，“我们是运输队的卫兵，要把药剂运到前线，结果半路出了岔。”
“We were ambushed…”
俄拉斯看着几名女猎手，她们你一言我一语地说着。
“…so many of them…”
“我们中了埋伏……”
“Riven called out for support…”
“……敌人太多了……”
“They couldn’t have known where we were.”
“锐雯呼叫了支援……”
“They fired—”
“可他们不清楚我们的具体位置。”
“—and the jars ignited.”
“他们就开火了——”
Marit reached behind her head, undoing the clasps that kept her mask in place. The straps slackened, came loose, and Erath swallowed.
“——然后试剂罐就着火了。”
Her entire face and skull was a mass of hairless, glossy red scar tissue. Erath had seen things killed by burns, the way the flesh looked afterward, but this was different. Black veins threaded the tissue like cobwebs. Erath could not fathom what pain she must endure, even now.
马莉特把手伸到脑后，解开了面甲的卡扣。绑带松开，俄拉斯吞了下口水。
Only her eyes remained unscathed. She looked at Erath, holding his gaze in cold silence.
她整张脸和头皮都是一片没有毛发的红色疤痕组织。俄拉斯见过被烧死的动物，见过烧伤以后的皮肉，但他眼前的伤不一样。黑色的血管像蜘蛛网一样遍布疤痕，俄拉斯不敢揣测她经历了怎样的痛苦，即使是现在，也必定依然痛苦。
Arrel removed her own helm. Erath glimpsed wounds around her lips and neck. The tracker hacked and spat a gobbet of blood phlegm.
只有她的双眼是完好的。她看向俄拉斯，冷冷地盯着他一言不发。
She must have breathed it in, Erath realized.
阿蕾尔也摘下了自己的头盔。俄拉斯看到她嘴唇和脖子上的伤口。这位追猎手干吼一声，啐了一口血痰。
“It was chaos,” said Teneff. “Comrades, enemies, boiling away, screaming themselves dead. I never saw Riven again. I believed that she died here, like all the rest.” She looked at Erath. “Do you understand? If we can find her, the thought that we can make something good from all this—”
她一定是吸进去了。俄拉斯意识到。
Then she stopped, her eyes on the horizon. Erath looked, seeing a group of figures appear on the hill. They were Ionian, clad in lightweight armor and festooned with blades of all kinds. Their faces were hidden behind masks and hoods the color of dark iron.
“一片混乱。”提涅芙说，“战友，敌人，全都翻腾着死去，临死前发出惨烈的尖叫。之后我就从未见过锐雯。我曾相信她死在了这里，和其他人一起。”她看向俄拉斯，“你知道吗？如果我们找到她，可能是这一切不幸中的万幸——”
“Calm is the ocean before the storm,” shouted one of the Ionians. “Stand to account, xiir! If any are to control this land, it will be us.”
然后她停住了，双眼望向天边。俄拉斯也顺着看过去，一群人影出现在小山上。他们是艾欧尼亚人，穿着轻甲，披挂着各种刀剑。他们的脸上都带着黑铁颜色的面具和罩帽。
“Navori Brotherhood,” Teneff bared her teeth, speaking the words like a curse.
“暴风前的海面最宁静。”其中一个艾欧尼亚人喊道，“遭报应吧，渍蠡！如果有什么人能掌控这片土地，必定是我们。”
“Full warparty,” said Marit, her voice calm and level despite an edge for the violence sure to come.
“纳沃利兄弟会，”提涅芙面目狰狞，用咒骂的语气说出这个词。
“一个满编大队，”马莉特说，她的声音平稳冷静，不过暴力的锋芒已经不远了。
“被你们偷了收成的村落，”那名兄弟会成员张开双臂说道，“他们迫不及待就把你们供出来了，非常配合我们履行承诺。”
“The village you stole from,” said the Brotherhood warrior, spreading his arms wide. “They were all so eager to speak of you. To help us fulfill our promise.”
俄拉斯感到一阵寒意。
Erath’s blood ran cold.
“就应该把他们杀光的。”马莉特怒吼道，愤怒让她的脸更加扭曲，她重新把面具带好。一阵小雨开始从铁灰色的天空落下。
“We should have killed them,” Marit snarled, rage twisting the ruin of her face as she pulled her mask back on. A light rain began to fall from the iron-gray sky.
“这该死的雨。”阿蕾尔狠狠地说。
“This forsaken rain,” hissed Arrel.
兄弟会的战士们向山下迈进。“我们承诺要找到你们，渍蠡，无论你们跑到初生之土的任何一个角落。我们承诺要猎杀你们，追踪你们，将你们赶尽杀绝，永远别想再破坏两个领域之间的平衡。”
The Brotherhood warrior took a step down the hill. “We promised to find you, the xiir, wherever you might be in the First Lands. We promised to hunt you, stalk you, to cleanse our homeland of those who have destroyed the balance between the twin realms.”
那群艾欧尼亚人发出咆哮，纷纷高举武器，其中有不少都闪着魔法的光芒。
The Ionians roared, raising weapons, many of which coursed and shivered with magic.
“我们许下承诺，为了那些被夺走性命的人，为了那些被斩断手脚的人，为了那些被夺走美梦、替换成恐惧与破碎回忆的人。只要我们的心还在跳，就必将履行这些承诺。”
“We make these promises to all those you have taken before their time, those whose limbs you have taken, whose peaceful dreams you have stolen and replaced with terror and broken memory. These promises we will keep, so long as our hearts beat life within us!”
十多个战士冲下山，来到距离诺克萨斯人几步远的地方，各个都摆好了架势。
A dozen warriors descended the hill, coming within a handful of paces of the Noxians with weapons ready.
“说说，”那个艾欧尼亚人说，“你们有承诺吗？”
“Tell me,” said the Ionian. “What will you promise?”
提涅芙深吸一口气，缓缓闭上双眼又突然睁开。“我承诺……让你知道疼。”
Teneff breathed, slowly shut her eyes and opened them. “I promise… to make this hurt.”
“那，你是承诺鲜血咯。”那个战士在罩帽下露出微笑。“我们接受。”
“You promise blood, then,” the warrior smiled beneath his hood. “We accept.”
提涅芙大喊一声，掷出流星钩锤。钩刃击中了一个兄弟会战士的太阳穴。他直接被打得翻身倒地。提涅芙踩到他身上，拽出钩子带出血。她抡起钩锁，又甩出一长条血点。
Teneff roared, hurling her hooked chain. It struck one of the Brotherhood in the temple. The force of the blow smashed him to the ground. Teneff stomped on his chest, tearing the hook free in a spray of blood. More flecked from the hook as she spun it again.
阿蕾尔甩出一只手，她的猎犬一拥而上。老一扑倒其中一人，咬住她的脖子。亚龙犬疯狂摇摆，扭着她的身体前后摆动，直到最后瘫软下去，然后老一继续寻找下一个目标。
Arrel flung out her hand and her hounds attacked. First tackled one of them, clamping down around the woman’s neck. The drakehound shook savagely, wrenching her body back and forth until she went limp, then moved on to another.
双方展开近距离混战。蒂法莲芝一剑刺穿一名艾欧尼亚人的腹部正中。她咒骂一声，剑身立刻燃起火，那个人浑身都燃起翡翠烈焰。马莉特在乱战之中左突右刺，剑戟一闪而过，让人看不清轨迹，时刻不停地劈砍、戳刺、挑拨，配合着亨丽埃塔小姐的尖牙利齿。
The two groups closed into melee. Tifalenji thrust her sword into an Ionian’s midsection. She spat a curse and the blade ignited, setting the man ablaze with screaming jade flame. Marit strafed through their midst. Her glaive was a blur, never ceasing as it cut, stabbed and slashed in tandem with Lady Henrietta’s snapping jaws.
俄拉斯看着双方的交战。这个地方唤醒了他们的一部分，释放着各自多年来深深积怨的怒火。符文工匠大步前进，她知道要想达到自己的目标，就要用自己的方式灭绝艾欧尼亚人。塔尔兹的缰绳从俄拉斯手中滑落，取而代之的是他的弯刀。
Erath watched the opening strikes. This place had awakened something in them, unleashed a rage that they had crushed down deep within themselves for years. The runesmith had waded in, knowing the only way to achieve her goal was to eliminate the Ionians in her way. Talz’s reins slipped from his hand, replaced by his falchion.
提涅芙与兄弟会的带头人剑锋交错，二人的脸只有几寸的距离。
Teneff locked blades with the Brotherhood leader, their faces inches apart.
“这片土地让你痛苦，”他挑衅到，“你失去的那些渍蠡，想去和他们见面吗？”
“This ground pains you,” he taunted. “The xiir you lost, would you like to see them again?”
就像接到了命令一样，留在半山腰上的一个年轻艾欧尼亚人开始唱歌。唱出来的是幽扬、瘆人的旋律，是任何生灵都无法发出的声音。其中的错误感让艾欧尼亚人停顿了一瞬间。
As if on command, a young Ionian who had remained halfway down the hill began to sing. It was a lilting, haunting melody, a tune that no living thing should be able to make. It stilled the Noxians for an instant, the absolute wrongness of it.
俄拉斯脚下一滑，发现大地在震颤。地缝里钻出细小的东西，有点像是幼苗，但却脉动着妖异的黑暗。俄拉斯过了一阵才意识到，那些都是手指。
Erath’s footing slipped as the earth shook. Tiny things appeared up from the ground, like seedlings but pulsing with a sickly, intermittent unlight. Erath realized after a moment that they were fingers.
很快，完整的手掌纷纷钻出来，然后是手臂突破地面。幽灵般的残缺不全的人影从地底爬出，它们身上挂着缥缈的诺克萨斯衣物，全都散发着同样的鬼魅黑暗。
Soon hands emerged, arms bursting through the soil. Insubstantial silhouettes of ragged men and women clawed their way up from below, dressed in incorporeal rags of Noxian garb, all radiating the same cold spectral darkness.
“这里的死者永不安息。”那个艾欧尼亚人恶狠狠地说，与提涅芙角力对峙。
“The dead here are not at peace,” hissed the Ionian, grappling with Teneff.
“疯了。”提涅芙怒吼道。
“Madness,” Teneff snarled.
那名兄弟会战士向后跳开，抽出一把剑，“我送你跟他们团聚。”
The Brotherhood warrior leapt back, drawing a blade. “And you will join them!”
那个年轻人依然在唱，又有更多苍白的幽灵从地底爬出。俄拉斯发现自己被包围了，慌乱地挥砍。鬼魂翻腾着躲闪他的刀锋，随后像邪风一样消散。他又砍出一刀，砍出一片空场，让他看到整片战场。
The youth continued to sing, and more pale phantoms clawed their way up from the earth. Erath found himself surrounded, and slashed out in a wide arc. The spirits boiled away at his blade’s touch, only to resolve like a sickened wind. He struck again, carving an opening to see the wider battle.
兄弟会的数量在女猎手们的怒火之下不断减少，但死灵却在聚集，在那幽冥的旋律中源源不断地回到这个世界。俄拉斯退缩了，他可以感知到，即使是这些艾欧尼亚人的同胞也会谴责他们正在释放的邪恶。他们要不了多久就会被淹没，必须尽快结束战斗。
The Brotherhood numbers were thinning from the fury of the huntresses, but the dead were massing, dredged back into being by that hellish melody. Erath recoiled, sensing that even these Ionian’s kin would condemn the evil they were unleashing. They had but moments until they were overwhelmed, and it had to be stopped.
他向山丘跑去。一名兄弟会战士跳过来挡住去路，双持着两把长匕首。他喊出一声艾欧尼亚语的咒骂，冲向俄拉斯。剑僮挡住了第一把刺向他下腹的匕首，随后发现第二把匕首正奔向他的咽喉。他向后躲开，失去了平衡，躺倒在地。
He made for the hill. A Brotherhood warrior leapt in his path, wielding a pair of long daggers. Shouting an Ionian curse, he lunged at Erath. The blade squire parried the first dagger going low for his gut, but saw the flash of the second seeking his throat. He backpedaled, losing his balance and falling to the ground.
那个艾欧尼亚人扑到他身上。他的面具掉落下来，露出一张年轻的面孔，表情坚毅，要将匕首刺入俄拉斯的胸膛。俄拉斯倒下的时候丢掉了弯刀，他徒手反抗那个人，抓住他的手腕，而匕首的尖端已经刺破了他的皮肉。俄拉斯发出一声痛苦和愤怒的吼叫，翻滚过去把对手压在身下，然后抽出自己的匕首。
The Ionian dived atop him. His mask slipped free, revealing a young determined face trying to drive one of the daggers into Erath’s chest. His falchion had slipped from his grasp in the fall. He fought the man, gripping his wrists as the dagger’s tip pierced his flesh. With a roar of pain and anger, Erath rolled, reversing the positions as he drew his knife.
俄拉斯用全身的力量压下去，将匕首刺入那个艾欧尼亚人的肚子。他短暂发力，扭动匕首，然后感受到艾欧尼亚人的手上没了力气。他拔出匕首，捡回弯刀，然后离开了那个将死之人。
Erath dropped his weight down, driving the knife into the Ionian’s gut. Grunting, he twisted it sharply, and felt the strength leave the Ionian’s grip. Tugging the blade free he collected his falchion and stepped over the dying man.
小雨和鲜血将这片荒地变成了泥潭。俄拉斯奔跑起来，躲避着刀剑的碰撞和诺克萨斯死灵的围堵。它们的触碰令他感到皮肤麻木，似乎向他的血管里注入了寒冰。他感到呼吸乏力，因为他的侧身已经被透明的利爪撕扯。
Rain and blood turned the ground to mire. Erath ran, weaving between clashes of blades and the moaning hordes of lost Noxians reaching for him. Their touch numbed his flesh, as though they were filling his veins with ice water. He gasped for breath as his side was raked by translucent claws.
那个唱歌的人紧闭着双眼，嘴唇发抖，流淌着血色的眼泪。一串串朱红色的血滴从他的鼻孔、耳朵和唇缝之间落下，而他始终在出神地吟唱哀歌，没有看见俄拉斯接近。剑僮突然冲上前去，推开无数双冰冷的手。他弯腰屈身，痛苦地哭喊出来，被一个幽鬼爬到身上。他猛然直起身，把尸鬼甩到身后。他喘不上气，视野变得狭窄，就像走在一座正在崩塌的隧道中，他用最后的力量冲向前，手起刀落。
The singer’s eyes were closed, the lids twitching as he wept blood. Trickles of ruby issued from his nose, ears, and lips as he stood transfixed and dirged. He didn’t see Erath coming. The blade squire surged forward, pushing against cold, grasping hands. He was bent double, crying out in agony as one climbed on top of him. He thrust himself upright, throwing the ghoul back. Breathless, his vision narrowing like a collapsing tunnel, he charged forward and with the last of his strength brought his blade down.
那个艾欧尼亚人倒了下去，歌声也安静下来。俄拉斯的刀切断了他一侧的锁骨和全部胸骨，鲜血从伤口潺潺流出。鬼影纷纷发出尖叫，它们的外形被拉长，被强硬地吸回地底。片刻过后，空气中只剩下苍白、怪异的雾气，和躁动死灵留下的残响。
The Ionian’s song fell silent as he collapsed, his lifeblood emptying out from where Erath’s blade had split him from collar to sternum. The phantoms shrieked, their forms elongating as they were drawn violently back down into the earth. Within moments, all that remained of them was a pale, sickly fog, and the echoing cries of the unquiet dead.
俄拉斯转过身，像醉鬼一样回到丘陵下方依然进行的战斗中。纳沃利兄弟会的战斗大队已经所剩无几。他们显然是宁可战死也不逃跑，除了一人。阿蕾尔的猎犬把他扑倒，扯碎。亨丽埃塔小姐大快朵颐，她的首饰被染得通红。蒂法莲芝的长剑也沾满了血，但有符文覆盖的地方，鲜血冒烟、干涸、脱落。
Erath turned, stumbling like a drunkard as he returned to the fight still raging below. The Navori Brotherhood warparty was down to their final warriors. They had clearly chosen to die rather than flee, save for one. Arrel’s hounds ran him down, and tore him apart. Lady Henrietta feasted, her jewelry stained crimson. Blood sizzled and snapped where it touched the runes of Tifalenji’s blade.
俄拉斯来的正是时候，刚好看到提涅芙处理为首的战士。她用锁链缠住他的脖子，把他的脸压进泥里，一只脚踩在后背上，看着他一点点窒息。
Erath arrived in time to see Teneff with the leader of the warriors. She had encircled his neck with her chain and drove his face into the quagmire, a boot on his back as she watched him suffocate.
她们每个人都有十几处伤口在流血。提涅芙抬头看到正在靠近的俄拉斯。她猛然站起来，直接扭断了那个艾欧尼亚人的脖子，然后踉跄着后撤一步。她单膝跪地，漫长的肉搏战已经让她累的骨头散架。
All of them bled from a dozen wounds. Teneff looked up at Erath as he approached. She stood up straight sharply, snapping the Ionian’s neck, and stumbled back. She sank to one knee, overcome by the bone-deep exhaustion of prolonged fighting hand to hand.
俄拉斯低头看去。渗进地里的血嘶嘶地冒烟。灰尘和泥土让他的皮肤发烫，此刻已经发红并开始脱落。
Erath looked down. The earth fizzed and fumed wherever blood had seeped into it. His skin burned from the dust, already reddened and peeling.
“疯了。”马莉特厉声说着，甩掉剑戟上的血。“艾欧尼亚人还标榜自己尊重死者，就这么尊重？”
“Insanity,” snapped Marit, flinging blood from her glaive. “Ionians claim to revere the dead, and yet do this?”
“我们不是他们的死者，”阿蕾尔低声说，“但即便如此……”
“We aren’t their dead,” murmured Arrel. “Even still…”
“疯了。”马莉特重复了一遍。
“Insanity,” Marit repeated.
“我们不能留在这。”蒂法莲芝喘息着说，“毒素还残留在地里。谁知道他们的死灵法术有没有后续的效果。”她站到了提涅芙身旁。
“We can’t stay here,” panted Tifalenji. “The toxin is still in the ground. And who knows what further ruin their necromancy has wrought.” She stood beside Teneff.
“我真希望刚才的死灵里有锐雯，”她抬头看向符文工匠说道，“我真希望你判断错了。”
“I had almost hoped to see Riven among them,” she said, looking up at the runesmith. “I had wished that you were wrong.”
符文工匠向她伸出一只手，“我不会错。”
The runesmith offered her hand. “I am not.”
稍作停顿后，提涅芙接过了手。
After a moment, Teneff took it.For once the rain was a blessing. Cool and cleansing, it washed the blood and poisoned earth from their bodies as they left the site of the chemical attack behind. They could all see the runesmith’s sword was shining now, humming to her.
“She’s close,” Tifalenji whispered, eyes locked to the runes. “So very close.”
这一刻的雨，成了他们的福泽。凉爽洁净，冲掉了血和有毒的泥土，让他们彻底把那片炼金武器的战场留在身后。现在，他们都可以看到符文工匠的长剑正在闪烁，在对她鸣唱。
She nodded to Marit and Arrel, and the two began ranging ahead.
“她离我们不远了，”蒂法莲芝悄声说，双眼始终盯着符文，“非常近。”
Erath felt his chest as they walked. Gingerly avoiding his dagger wound, he pulled his pendant out from under his jerkin, rubbing a thumb slowly over its surface. “He gave us up. My father gave us up.”
他对马莉特和阿蕾尔点点头，两名女猎手立刻出发探查前方。
“He may have been coerced,” said Teneff. After a while she shook her head. “It doesn’t really matter.”
俄拉斯一边走一边体察自己胸前的伤势。他小心避免刀伤被蹭到，把吊坠从坎肩里拽了出来，手指缓缓在表面摩挲。“他出卖了我们。我的父亲出卖了我们。”
“I was only a child. They told me that he died, he’s gone, he’s never coming back, I’ll never see him again. Then I do see him, and everything I knew about him was a lie.” He looked at Teneff, taking a shaking breath. “What do I do with that?”
“他可能是被逼的。”提涅芙说。稍后她摇了摇头，“其实都无所谓了。”
Teneff reflected for a moment. “You can let him go.”
“当时我还是孩子。他们告诉我他死了，没了，永远回不来了，我再也看见不到他了。然后我见到他了，然后我所知道的关于他的一切都变成了谎言。”他望向提涅芙，颤抖着抽了一口气。“我该怎么办？”
Erath cuffed away a tear. “How does that help, after everything?
提涅芙想了想，“你可以不去在乎。”
“It’s not about helping everything.” She gripped his shoulder. “Just you. So long as Noxus endures, you will always have a family, Erath.”
俄拉斯抹掉一滴泪。“都已经这样了，有用吗？”
Erath paused. He let the words and memories of the past days wash over him. Exhaling, he pulled at the pendant until the cord around his neck snapped. He stared down at it, and slowly tilted his palm until the sliver of bone fell to the ground.
“不是有没有用的问题，”她抓住他的肩膀。“关键是你自己。只要诺克萨斯长存，你就永远都有家，俄拉斯。”
Without looking back he jogged off to catch up to the others, as the pendant quickly vanished beneath the earth.
俄拉斯暂停脚步。他让往日的话语和记忆流遍全身，然后长吁一口气，用力拖拽那枚吊坠，直到脖子上的细绳崩断。他低头凝视它最后一眼，然后逐渐倾斜手掌，让那块骨头落到地上。
他头也不回地跑步追上其他人，吊坠快速陷进地里。
最后更新于