眼眸，微火 The Eyes and the Embers

作者：Conor Sheehy

跑。

Run.

She raced as fast as she could, bloodied feet pounding the earth beneath her. She tore through another thick bramble. More thorns tugging at her ragged clothes. More scratches. More blood. More pain.

她拼了命地跑着，淌血的双脚重重地踩在地面上。她钻过一片厚厚的荆棘丛。棘刺刮破她褴褛的衣衫。新的伤。新的血。新的痛。

Her lungs burned. She gasped for breath, begged for rest, but the voice inside demanded more.

Run.

她的肺里像是在烧火。她喘不过气，渴望着能歇一歇，但脑海里那个声音不依不饶。

She fled just yesterday afternoon, but so much had happened since. First she heard the faculty staff, screaming for her from the conservatory grounds. Then the dogs, barking as she scrambled along the banks of the River Gren.

Night came, and with it, the distant sound of riders, thundering through the dark. She had lost her satchel there, along with the meager pickings she'd stolen from the kitchens of the Ravenbloom Conservatory—two apples, a torn heel of bread, and half a block of cheese that smelled like it had come all the way from Nockmirch. Enough to get her to safety, but barely. Gods, how the hunger gnawed. She picked berries, chewed on twigs, drank the rainwater from leaves.

跑。

There was so little peace. Every moment she paused, every time she allowed the exhaustion to weigh down on her, the voice inside would speak again.

Run.

她是昨天下午才跑出来的，但之后发生了太多事情。首先她听到教员们在校园里喊她的名字。然后是犬吠声，此起彼伏，那个时候她正在格伦河岸上连滚带爬。

She fell, tripped by a protruding root, landing heavy enough for something in her to crack. Through gritted teeth, she screamed. The pain lanced through her leg, up her body, then slowly, with each passing throb, melded with the rest. Everything ached. Everything burned.

For a time, she just lay there, her face in the mud. Night rain fell on her broken body, washing away her tears, and the blood.

入夜以后，传来的是远处骑兵的马蹄声，在黑暗中如同闷雷滚滚。那个时候她把背包跑丢了，里面装的是她从拉文布鲁姆学院的厨房里偷出来的几样吃食——两个苹果、一角面包、半块奶酪，臭得让人觉得是从老远的诺克默奇运来的。本来这些东西足够支持她逃出危险范围，但也只是勉强足够。天啊，太饿了。她摘野莓，啃树枝上的嫩芽，喝叶子中间蓄的雨水。

Run, the voice said, angrier now.

Finally, she responded. "I can't!" she cried, her voice ragged as the rest of her. "I can't!"

她一直在担惊受怕。只要她稍有停顿，只要她让疲惫拖慢了自己的脚步，那个脑海里的声音就会再次出现。

The voice quietened.

跑。

她摔倒了，一条突出地面的树根绊倒了她。她重重落地，甚至感觉摔断了什么地方。她咬紧牙关，把惨叫声含在嘴里。一股剧痛沿着一条腿窜上来，连同半截身子一起疼，然后渐渐地，随着一下下的跳痛，融入了其他的疼痛中。浑身都在疼。浑身都在燃烧。

Time passed. Exhaustion and pain braided together, and sent her to sleep.

In her dreams, she saw flashes of what had come before. Headmistress Telsi standing in her dormitory room, the Arbiter of Thorns beside her. "You have been chosen," Telsi said. “The war in Ionia requires new weapons. Old weapons.”

有那么一阵，她就趴在那，脸埋进泥里。夜雨浇到她伤痕累累的身上，冲走她的眼泪，和血迹。

The Arbiter's rough hands on her temples. Flashes of fire in her vision.

The fever. The heat. The voice.

跑。那个声音又来了，这次带着愤怒。

The voice.

Wake.

她终于做出了回应。“跑不动了！”她哭喊道，声音与身体一样虚弱。“我跑不动了！”

那个声音安静了。

She woke with a start and lurched to the side, searching for danger. The rain had stopped, and a calm silence had fallen over the woods, broken only by the wind whistling through the trees, and the distant hooting of an owl.

一段时间过去。疲惫与疼痛交织在一起，送她入睡。

No danger. At least, not for now.

Slowly, with weary arms, she lifted herself, then turned onto her back. Her knee cracked again, sending agony through the whole leg. She held the scream at bay until the pain faded to its old dull throb.

在梦里，曾经的种种闪过眼前。特尔丝校长站在她寝室门口，身边是那位荆棘仲裁官。“你被选中了。”特尔丝说，“在艾欧尼亚发生的战争需要很多武器。无论新旧。”

She gazed up past the swaying branches above, seeing stars through the clouds. Memories of happier times floated by. She remembered laying in the Fensworth fields with her grandmother as they named the constellations above. The Fox. The Liar. The Hope. Above her now, shining bright, was the Witch—her favorite. Emotion welled inside her. She let out a single sob, which steamed against the winter chill.

Cold. Cold! She hadn't noticed, but the chill had numbed her fingers and feet. She was freezing. She sat up fast and hugged herself, wiping the wet mud from her body as best she could. She breathed faster, panic setting in. The shivering started.

仲裁官粗糙的双手搭在她头两侧的颞窝上。火焰在她眼前一晃而过，反反复复。

The voice spoke again. A new word.

Fire.

高烧。燥热。那个声音。

She limped from tree to tree in the darkness, searching for dry branches and leaves, anything she could burn. But the earlier rain had blanketed the woods, and left everything sodden.

The shivering had stopped. Her pain had faded. She was about ready to give in and let the cold take her, when ahead, in a small clearing, her eyes caught the moonlight gleaming off the slick stump of a large, felled tree. She narrowed her focus, looked closer, and spotted a deep notch carved into its surface.

那个声音。

Her heart soared. "A waytree… A waytree!"

Such trees had been a common sight in her youth. Dotted throughout the woodlands, they were used as markers by the empire’s scouts, and housed preserved food and other camping supplies. Slowly, she limped forward, every step an agony, until she reached the stump. She fumbled inside its hollow, hoping to find something, anything, that might help her.

醒。

There! Her frozen fingers clutched something thin and brittle. Kindling. She pulled out a bundle of sticks, tied neatly with twine. Inside was more—flint, emberleaves, dried beef, and a handful of wild mushrooms.

她突然惊醒，侧身爬起来，搜寻危险的迹象。雨已经停了，树林里一片寂静，只听得见林间呼啸的风声，和远处猫头鹰的鸣叫。

没有危险。至少是目前。

Soon enough, the fire was built. She sat by its sputtering infancy, hugging her knees and chewing absently on the beef. It was old and barely edible, but she didn't care. With the threat of imminent danger easing, she allowed herself a moment to think back.

Headmistress Telsi must be furious, she thought, as she stared into the blossoming flames. The old lady was a stern and brittle thing, with a lined and haggard face that would fall into a scowl more easily than a smile. She would have locked the conservatory down by now, and sent both scouting contingents out to search for her.

她疲惫的双臂缓缓撑起身体，然后翻了个身。她的膝盖再次传来剧痛，瞬间蔓延到了整条腿。她忍住了惨叫声，等着疼痛渐渐减退，恢复成酸胀。

"Oh, Fynn," she sighed.

He was the conservatory's First Scout, a gentle man with kind eyes who found people like her—gifted people—and offered them a home. He had arrived at her grandmother's cottage just a few weeks after her passing, when the other villagers had all but exiled her. While the empire at large saw the value of mages, some of the more remote settlements like Fensworth still clung to old mistrusts. Witch, they called her. Witch. She remembered all those hateful eyes. She remembered begging for help. All the doors closed before her. The loneliness.

她仰望头上摇摆的枝杈，透过云层看到星空。曾经美好的往事浮现在脑海中。她想起自己和祖母一起躺在芬斯沃斯的田野里，给天上的星座取名字。狐狸座。骗子座。希望座。现在在她头顶闪耀的，是女巫座——她最喜欢的星座。一时间五味陈杂。她轻轻啜泣了一声，在冬日的凉气中呼出一团白雾。

冷。好冷！她甚至一直都没有意识到，但手脚已经冻得麻木。她要被冻僵了。她赶紧坐起来缩成一团，尽可能地揩掉身上湿冷的泥巴。她呼吸加快，愈发恐慌。身体止不住地颤抖起来。

那个声音又发话了。是一个新的字眼。

火。

她扶着树干，在黑暗中一瘸一拐，四处寻找干燥的枯枝和树叶。任何能生火的东西。但早先的雨水早已浇遍了这片树林，到处都湿漉漉的。

寒颤消失了。疼痛褪去了。她已经准备放弃了，任由寒冷把她带走。这时，前方的一小片空地上有一抹银色掠过，那是月光映照在一个光滑的树桩上。她努力睁大眼睛，发现树桩表面有一道深深的切口。

她大喜过望。“路标树……是路标树！”

她小的时候经常看到这样的树。它们零星散布于林地中，是帝国探子们的路标，里边还会放一些耐储存的食物和其他扎营所需的物资。她跛着脚，慢慢向前走，每一步都在痛，最后终于来到树桩旁边。她在中空的树洞里摸索，希望能找到能用得上的东西，任何东西。

找到了！她冻僵的手指抓到了某种又薄又脆的东西。引火的东西。她拽出了一捆木柴，用线绳捆得整整齐齐。里边还有其他东西——燧石、余火树叶、风干牛肉，再加一把野生蘑菇。

篝火很快就生好了。她坐在新生的火苗边，膝盖抵在胸前，呆呆地嚼着那块牛肉。肉质又老又柴，只能勉强下咽，但她并不在乎。现在死亡的威胁已经不那么迫近，她稍微放松片刻，开始回想这一路。

特尔丝校长肯定气炸了。她心想着，望向那团绽放中的火焰。那个老妇人脾气倔还爱翻脸，消瘦的脸庞皱纹皱纹自带三分凶相。这会儿，她应该已经把学院彻底封锁了，而且派出手下仅有的两支侦查小队出来找她。

“噢，费恩。”她叹了口气。

他是学院的首席侦察兵，心地善良，会找到她这样的人——这类有天赋的人，给他们一个家。在她祖母过世几个星期后，他来到了她的小屋，而那个时候其他村民早已将她放逐。虽然总体上来说帝国是承认法师的价值的，但像芬斯沃斯这样的偏远村落，依然还固守着陈旧的猜疑。女巫，他们管她叫女巫。她回忆起那些充满憎恨的目光。她回忆起自己乞求帮助的时候。家家户户紧闭房门。只有孤独。

然后，在某个夏日，费恩•理崔克来了，还带给她一样美好的东西：希望。

And then, one summer's day, Fynn Retrick had arrived to offer her something beautiful: hope.

She kicked the fire with her good leg. The wood cracked and the flames danced out again, warming her face. She gazed into the flickering light once more, deep in thought.

她用那只没受伤的腿踢了一脚火堆。木头劈啪作响，火苗再次飞舞，烘烤她的脸。她再次盯着摇曳的火光，陷入深思。

Surely, Fynn couldn't have known what Telsi would do. He was so kind to me. He was so—

She paused, noticing something odd before her. The fire seemed to be taking shape, creating a faint outline for a moment before collapsing away to nothing. She frowned, watching on as it happened again, then again. The same shape, the same collapse.

显然，费恩肯定不知道特尔丝会做出什么样的事来。他对我那么好。他那么——

She glanced up, higher in the fire, and noticed two dark holes in the burgeoning blaze. They remained still and black as the night, no matter how bright the flames around them burned. She looked closer. No, not holes, she realized.

They were eyes.

她顿住了，忽然觉察到眼前有异样。这团火似乎组成了什么形状，勾勒出了某种轮廓，但又马上塌陷消失。她眉头紧皱，同样的情景一而再，再而三。同样的轮廓，同样的塌陷。

Amoline.

She froze at the mention of her own name. The flames licked up, but the eyes held firm, fixed on her. She stared back, her skin crawling.

她抬高视线，望向火焰的上半截，发现熊熊燃烧的火苗中间有两个黑洞。这两个洞始终定在那里，如寂夜般漆黑，任凭周围的火苗炽热激烈。她凑近了一些。不，不是洞，她意识到。

"What… What is this?" Amoline asked, her voice wavering. But she knew. She remembered what Headmistress Telsi had called it. The Gift. Something that would make Amoline stronger, something that would make her more than just a mage.

"You are a queen," Telsi had told her, "and it is your crown."

这是一双眼睛。

Amoline.

The voice grew with the flames. It rattled inside her, shaking her bones.

阿莫琳。

Witness.

The fire began shifting, creating shapes and patterns that put her in mind of events she’d never seen before.

她听到自己的名字，彻底僵住了。火舌向上蹿，但那双眼睛一动不动地盯着她。她与之对视着，浑身不自在。

There. A stone cathedral, tall and magnificent. At its entrance, an armored titan made war, scattering the desperate mortal fighters before him with a heavy and cruel mace. By his side were two fearsome beasts—one made of shadow, the other of fire.

Witness.

“这……什么东西？”阿莫琳的声音有些颤抖。可她其实是知道的。她记得特尔丝校长是怎么说的。天赋。它让阿莫琳更强，让她有别于普通的法师。

Amoline felt herself drawn toward the second beast. She peered closer. It was huge, with too-many broad, burning arms and a pulsating frame. It screamed ahead, bellowing out rage that twisted and withered its enemies in unholy fire.

The flames flared before Amoline. A pale woman smiled. At her feet lay the metal titan, destroyed. The two beasts that served him were beaten, forced back. Robed figures surrounded them, chanting in a tongue unknown to her. How the two raged. Amoline saw them falter. She saw their strength sapped until their power was whittled down into two droplets, small as rain.

“你是一位女王，”特尔丝当时对她说，“而这就是你的王冠。”

Amoline followed the droplet of raging fire, trapped now inside a small warded vial. Days, months, years passed. It lay untouched, locked away. Dwindling. Desperate. The spirit ebbed. The light began to wane. Its roars fell to wails.

Amoline felt something unexpected well inside her. It was pity.

阿莫琳。

The flames flared again. She saw the Arbiter of Thorns, riding silently in a carriage. Ahead stood the great Ravenbloom Conservatory. The droplet of fire fell from its cage onto a bare forehead.

Then screaming, shackles, and fire.

那个声音随着火焰一起膨胀。回荡在她脑海中，摇撼着她的每一根骨头。

Fire.

"Stop!" a voice cried out, and Amoline snapped from her trance.

看。

The two black eyes blazed with fury mere inches from her face. She felt something below. Heat. Amoline looked down to see she was standing in the fire pit, flames lapping at her ankles. Just as the pain began to set in, just as she opened her mouth to scream, a cloaked figure crashed into her side, knocking her clear.

She slammed into the mud, coughing smoke and embers from the fire. The figure picked himself up, breathing hard.

火焰开始摇曳，变换出不同的形态和图案，让她脑海中浮现出从未见过的事情。

"Gods, woman," he gasped, "what were you doing?"

Amoline turned away, smoke still burning her throat. She lay there, coughing and despondent, until the needles in her lungs calmed. Finally, she spoke. "I can't go back," she said, her voice feeble and hoarse. “You don’t know what she did to me.”

她看到了。一座石砌的殿堂，高大雄伟。入口处，有一个身披铠甲的巨人在战斗，他用一把沉重凶蛮的战锤击溃了穷途末路的凡人战士。他身边有两头凶猛的怪兽——一个是黑影，另一个是火焰。

She felt his hand on her shoulder. "Who?"

"Headmistress Telsi," Amoline replied. She squeezed her eyes shut, expecting to feel steel restraints closing around her wrists once more.

看。

"Who?" he repeated, and this time the confusion was ripe in his voice.

Amoline turned to find a slight man peering at her in the gloom, his eyes full of worry. He was a stranger to her—and, evidently, she to him.

阿莫琳感觉自己被第二只怪兽所吸引。她凑近了一些。这只怪兽巨大无比，身上长满了数不清的冒着火的粗壮手臂，身体的轮廓有节律的搏动着。它向着前方嘶吼，喷出的怒火让它的敌人纷纷在邪恶的火焰中扭曲凋零。

"Who are you?" she asked.

The man turned and sat on the fallen tree beside him. "I am Gregori," he started, calm as he could muster, "just a simple traveler bound for the frontier. Nothing more." He studied her for a moment. "And you?"

篝火在阿莫琳面前闪烁。一个苍白的女子在微笑。那个金属的巨人躺倒在她脚下，支离破碎。他驯养的那两只怪兽也被打败，被击退。一群穿着长袍的人影围住它们，用一种她听不懂的语言吟唱某种法咒。两只怪兽已经歇斯底里。阿莫琳看到它们变得有气无力。看到它们的力量被抽走，最后萎顿、消散，只剩下两个液滴，宛如两滴雨水。

"Amoline."

"Are you hurt, Amoline?"

阿莫琳的视线跟随着那个怒火的液滴，现在它被装进了一个小瓶，封上了盖子。日复一日，年复一年。它与世隔绝，无人问津，逐渐在孤独中皱缩、绝望。它的灵魂渐渐衰弱。它的光芒渐渐黯淡。它的怒吼变成恸哭。

She checked her legs. The charred soles of her boots had taken the brunt of the heat, and her laces had been lost to the fire. She pulled at the scorched leather to examine her feet… and found them unhurt, save for the blisters and bruises she earned while fleeing the conservatory.

She frowned.

阿莫琳泛起一种她意料之外的情感。是怜悯。

"Just my knee," she murmured, pushing the ruined boots aside, "but not from…"

She looked over to where the fire had burned, and saw the wood scattered by the fall. The pit was little more than smoke and embers now, glowing impotently as the sunrise approached.

篝火再度闪烁。她看到了那位荆棘仲裁官，安静地坐在车厢里赶路。前方就是拉文布鲁姆学院。火焰的液滴从它的牢笼中滚出来，落到某个人光溜溜的额头上。

Amoline looked for the dark eyes, and found nothing.

"Well, between that and your bare feet, that’s two reasons not to travel on foot, hmm?" Gregori said. He eyed Amoline carefully, suspicious. But in the fledgling dawn light, he saw only a young and desperate woman. "My cart is just a short way there," he said, pointing through the trees, "I could take you to the nearest town. The healers there could—"

随后是惨叫、枷锁、还有火。

"No." Amoline was quick with her refusal. Towns were too dangerous, especially here. Telsi's scouts would be waiting.

"Well, I won't leave you like this."

火。

She looked over Gregori again, searching for a badge or a pin or a pattern somewhere on his clothes that resembled the Ravenbloom sigil. Nothing. "You should," she said.

Gregori nodded slowly. "Would you like to eat, at least? I've a meat pie on my wagon, fresh from the baker’s oven, two villages back."

“别！”传来一个陌生的声音，阿莫琳从恍惚中猛醒。

Amoline fell silent for a moment, trying to fend off the grumbling in her stomach. She failed.

"Yes," she admitted, "I would."

那双黑色的眼睛贴在她面前几寸远的地方，燃烧着怒气。她脚下传来异样的感觉。热。阿莫琳低头发现自己正站在火堆里，火苗正拍打她的脚踝。就在她开始感到疼痛，刚要张开嘴大叫的时候，一个披着斗篷的人影从侧面扑过来，把她扑到一旁。

她摔进泥里，在篝火的烟灰和余烬中咳嗽不止。那个人影站了起来，喘着粗气。

By the time the pair had finished their meal, dawn had fully broken and a frigid winter sun had broken through the crooked treeline. Alongside the pie, Gregori had shared a cold flagon of cow's milk and handful of sweetened chestnuts. Afterward, he joined Amoline on the stump of the waytree, and sketched a misshapen map of Noxus into the mud before pointing out all the places he'd already visited on his travels. Amoline watched on, quietly. This man, Gregori the Gray, was a lively and spirited fellow. His tale about the drunken Basilich krug-whisperers even brought a shadow of a smile to her face, although it was faint and fleeting.

“天啊，姑娘。”他气喘吁吁地说，“你刚刚是要干什么？”

His stories complete, silence fell on their small camp. Gregori leaned back and glanced over to the ruined fire pit. "Would you tell me what happened?" he asked, soft as a leaf.

Amoline pursed her lips.

阿莫琳背过身，嗓子里依然呛着烟。她躺倒在地，无力地呛咳，直到肺里的针刺感褪去。最后她终于开口。“我不回去。”她用虚弱沙哑的声音说，“你不知道她对我做了什么。”

"Show me where you're going," she demanded, ignoring his question and toeing the dirt map instead. Gregori nodded. He reached over with his charred stick and tapped the edge of the sketch.

"There," he said. "Over the mountains. As north as north gets."

他一只手搭在了她的肩膀上：“谁？”

"What's there?"

Gregori shrugged. "Nothing. Plains, valleys. I hope to make a home there." He looked over. "And you? Where will the winds take you?"

“特尔丝校长。”她答道。她紧闭双眼，准备感受冰冷的钢索再次束住手腕。

Amoline bowed her head, deep in thought. She'd thought of both Drugne and even somewhere in distant Tokugol—but now, in the clear light of day, both seemed so close, so obvious. She couldn't trust her old neighbors in Fensworth, and heading south to the capital would only tempt fate. Amoline thought back to a phrase she often heard the others whisper at the conservatory.

The Rose is everywhere, the Rose is everyone.

“谁？”他又问了一遍，这一次的声音更加充满疑惑。

No. She would have to go somewhere new. Somewhere unexplored.

"Would..." she started, staring into the mud. "Would you take me with you?"

阿莫琳转过头看到一个纤瘦的男子正借着昏暗的火光望向她，眼神中充满担忧。她不认识他——显然，他也不认识她。

Gregori fell silent. Amoline slowly turned to see him looking at her, his eyebrows raised.

"I could leave once we neared the border," she continued, "I won't be any trouble. I can hunt and cook. I can—"

“你是谁？”她问道。

Gregori held his hand up, laughing softly. "I will take you as far as you please, Amoline, on one condition." Amoline waited as he leaned over. "It's a long way to the north. Will you tell me some stories of your own?"

"You won't like my stories, Gregori the Gray," she sighed.

那个人转过身，坐到身旁的树干上。“我是格雷戈里。”他故作镇静地自我介绍，“只是过路的，打算去边境。没什么特别的。”他打量了她片刻。“你呢？”

"Maybe not, but I would still like to hear them."

By noon, Gregori had mounted his horse and resumed his journey, with Amoline hiding between sacks of food and loose lumber in the cart behind. The cart's rocking, the blanket's warmth, and her own exhaustion soon had the soft pull of sleep tugging at her spirit once more.

“阿莫琳。”

Darkness took her, and in her sleep, she finally dared to dream of a quiet and peaceful land far away from all who would hope to hurt her.

“你有哪里受伤吗，阿莫琳？”

她看了看自己的腿。焦黑的靴底替她抵挡了炙烤，鞋带已经被烧没了。她脱下鞋查看双脚……发现并没有受伤，只有在逃跑途中攒下的水泡和淤青。

她皱起眉头。

“就是膝盖疼。”她低声说着，把烧焦的靴子放到一边。“但不是因为……”

她向刚才点篝火的地方望过去，看到刚才那一扑已经把火堆撞散了，只剩下一缕青烟和暗燃的余烬，在黎明的曙光中显得微弱无力。

阿莫琳寻觅着那双黑暗的眼睛，但已没了踪影。

“这样的话，膝盖再加上光脚，那就是两个没法徒步的理由了，是吧？”格雷戈里说。他小心翼翼地打量着阿莫琳。但在这稚嫩的晨光中，他只看到一个求助无望的年轻女子。“我的货车就在那边不远处，”他指着树林的一边说，“我可以把你带到附近的镇上。找个医师给你——”

“不。”阿莫琳马上就拒绝了。城镇都太危险，尤其是这一带。特尔丝的探子肯定都恭候多时了。

“可是，我也不能这样放着你不管。”

她又看了看格雷戈里，在他身上寻找徽章、胸针或者图案，任何与拉文布鲁姆的徽记相似的物件。但什么都没有。“你本来就不该管。”她说。

格雷戈里犹疑地点了点头。“那至少，你吃点东西吧？我货车里有一块肉饼，烤房里刚出炉的，离这里两个村子的路程。”

阿莫琳沉默了一阵，努力想要抵挡住咕咕叫的肚子。她被打败了。

“好吧。”她不再推辞，“我吃。”

二人吃过了饭，清晨的太阳也终于升了起来，照亮了寒冬冷山上光秃秃的树林。除了肉饼，格雷戈里还分给她一壶牛奶，一把糖渍的栗子。后来，他挨着艾莫林坐在路标树的树桩上，在泥地里画了一幅歪歪扭扭的诺克萨斯地图，点出他旅行途经的每一个地方。阿莫琳静静地看着。这个人，这位灰衣的格雷戈里，是个积极乐观的家伙。他讲的那个关于贝西利科石甲虫训练师的故事甚至让她脸上现出了笑意，只不过转瞬即逝。

他讲完了故事，这片小营地便安静了下来。格雷戈里向后倚着，侧目望向被扑灭的火堆。“你想聊聊刚才是怎么回事吗？”他的语气轻得像一片落叶。

阿莫琳张开了嘴。

“指给我看你要去哪。”她没有理睬他的问题，而是用脚指向地上的地图，用命令的语气说道。格雷戈里点点头。他用一根烧黑的木棍在地图边缘点了一下。

“这里。”他说，“翻过那片山。到最北边。”

“那里有什么？”

格雷戈里耸耸肩，“什么也没有。平原，山谷。我希望能在那安家。”他抬头望去，“你呢？风要把你吹到哪里？”

阿莫琳低下头，陷入深思。她考虑过德鲁涅，甚至更远的土库古尔，但现在，当白昼来临，这两个地方都显得太近，太容易被猜透。她不信任芬斯沃斯的乡亲，而如果往南走就是向着都城自投罗网。阿莫琳想起了学院里其他人常常悄声说的那句话。

玫瑰无处不在，玫瑰无孔不入。

不行。她必须另想一个去处。一个未被探索过的地方。

“你……”她盯着泥地开口说道，“你愿意带上我吗？”

格雷戈里没有说话。阿莫琳扭过头，发现他正在看着她，挑起了眉毛，瞪大双眼。

“只要我们接近了边境，我就马上离开。”她继续说道，“我不会给你添麻烦。我可以打猎，可以做饭，还可以——”

格雷戈里抬起一只手，轻声笑了出来，“只要你愿意，我可以一直带你走，阿莫琳。只有一个条件。”他故作神秘地靠过来，“往北方的路还很远。你可不可以讲讲你自己的故事？”

“你是不会喜欢我的故事的，灰衣的格雷戈里。”她叹了口气。

“可能你说的对。但我还是想听一听。”

待到中午，格雷戈里已经跨上马继续上路，而阿莫琳则藏在后边的货车里，夹在裝食物的袋子和松散堆叠的木柴之间。马车的摇摆、毛毯的温暖、还有她自己的疲惫很快就让睡意缠上了她。

她闭上眼，投入了黑暗。在睡梦中，她终于敢梦想一块安静祥和的土地，远离任何想要伤害她的人。