拉特恩的幽黯密室

From 'The Green Lady of Norinath':
'Her movement is a cataract
Of silver plashing over stone
No star has ever burned so bright
Nor full moon through the branches shone.'
 
她的脚步如行云流水
如白银之瀑飞落石上
她的光芒胜过群星
胜过那枝头的满月
　　　　　——《诺瑞那斯的绿色女士》

 
From the 'Bladesman's Lament':
'And though these sands are darkened
With blood of foe and friend,
My thoughts turn not to war, my love,
But you, now, at the end.'
 
敌人和战友的鲜血
染红了脚下的沙场
在这最后的时刻，我的爱人
思绪却已离开战场飞到你身旁
　　　　　——《剑士挽歌》

另译：

丹心映白刃
碧血染黄沙
生死皆已渡
伊人唯牵挂
 
'The Year Renewed':
'Spring sighs in the woods.
A hawk circles across clouds.
Dewdrops fleck the grass.'
 
春风徐徐，轻吟林间
翔鹰落落，盘旋云间
露珠闪闪，点缀草间
　　　　　——《冬去春来》
 
From 'The Wind Calls Me Home':
'A lady in her shadowed bower
She waits for me, she waits for me.
A kinder and a nobler soul,
There cannot be, there cannot be.'
 
一位女士独守闺房
为我守望，为我守望
她的灵魂仁慈高尚
世间无双，世间无双
　　　　　——《风儿唤我回家》
 
From 'To Erisha':
'You are the dawn, the bold sunrise
Awash like fire upon the shore,
And with thy gleaming, mirthful eyes
Upon me I need nothing more.'
 
你是黎明，是蓬勃的日出
就像火焰，在那浪尖跳动
你的眼神，欢快地闪烁着
注视着我，我已别无所求
　　　　　——《致埃里莎》
 
An Ode to the Storm-port:
'O Stormreach, the scents of thy harbor,
Salt-breeze and hull-pitch, spices and oil.
None twice the same, inconstant as rivers.
A song ever-changing, sweet as the dusk.'
 
From 'The Mariner's Betrothed':
'You ask my hand, but how can I
Answer when you're leaving?
To ply the winds beyond the bay,
And over storm-swells heaving?'
 
From 'Raise Sails, Away':
'When I was a stripling lass, and so my mother told me,
Raise sails, me mates, raise sails, away,
That if I did not kiss the lads, my lips would all grow moldy.
Raise sails, away this morning!'
 
An End to Sorrows:
'Your eyes are closing,
How well is it to slumber?
To forget yearning,
Fear, regret -- forever past.'
 
From 'The Prince-thief's Doom':
'Amar crept through the casement,
And spied the sword a-lying there.
Yet never, in his dark thief's heart,
Did he ken he'd be a-dying there.'
 
Summer's Last Days:
'Autumn's colors creep,
Hues of blood and leaping flame:
Ghosts upon the boughs.'
 
From the 'Duel of Caolas and Barvan':
'Direful and deep, Barvan's breast boiled,
Poisoned with pain, he faltered and fell.
Stock-still, stalwart, conquering Caolas
Grimly gazed at his blood-coated blade'
 
Traditional Reel:
'Sing hey to the girls come dancin' this night!
Sing ho to the boys that brought 'em!
Sing way-ya-hoy for the ships o' the fleet,
And all the hands that wrought 'em!'
 
Meditation on the Watchful Isle:
'Stone spire, soaring
Above the foam, flecked with spray
Broken, still tower
Staring skull across the bay.'
 
From the 'Tale of the Forsaken Isles':
'And lo the tempest! Such a fiend!
So cruel and grim and dire!
Caught in his winds our falt'ring bark
While black waves bore us higher.'
 
From The Coasts of Lhazaar:
'For broadside, and alongside, for hours we did lay,
Till our wizard burned their mast away before the dogs could flee,
And quarter, oh, for quarter those pirates did they cry,
But only thing we showed 'em was the bottom of the sea.'
 
Shards of Xen'drik:
'Sound of leaves falling,
The stones lie quiet, wary.
Titans walked these roads.'
 
From 'The Last Voyage of Eliara Thal':
'For I sail away from fair Valenar,
My gaze beseeks the distant shore,
And o'er my shoulder lies the mist-swallowed coast,
Where my feet shall tread nevermore.'
 
From 'The Fall of Gwylan':
'Up Gwylan White-hand lifted his blade,
And turned he to face the ravening horde.
Go you, friends, and find your homes,
That my life will buy yours shall be my reward.'
 
From 'A Port For Every Lady':
'A golden maid waits in shining Shae Cairdal,
A silver-tressed lass on Maradal's wharf,
One wants to bed me, the other to wed me --
But I'd just as soon kiss an unshaven dwarf.'
 
A Requiem for Cyre:
'Wind whispers, seeks warmth,
Dust on glass, where castles once stood.
The mourning land weeps.'
 
From the 'Ballad of Rasharo and the Worm':
'Cunningly creeping, the slithering stalker
Writhing and wrathful, drew near the door
Which swung wide swiftly, revealing Rasharo
Battle-bedecked, and eager for gore.'
 
From 'To a Lady Glimpsed Across the Shallow':
'Never have I seen an aspect fair as thine,
Though mine feet have trod lands beyond number.
Let me drink deep thine eyes of wine,
And dreamless in thy fair arms slumber.'
 
From 'The End of King Jarot':
'Old wolf, your passing
Breaks both your lands and your blood.
Must you go heirless?
The world weeps, and girds for war.'
 
Dour days descend, the singing of swords
Clangor and clashing, as warriors weave ...

本书节选于自由港秘术学院的罗米克－札斯特索恩教授所著的《生物志》，所摘录的内容均为其中有关兽人社会研究的部分，本书独立成卷日期不详。
 
 
兽人，一群不折不扣的野兽，他们的存在对同时代的每个文明社会都是一种真正的威胁。他们为战争和征服而生，是一个擅长战斗和贸易的种族。
 
根据早期文献记录，在那些反对暴政的伟大战争期间，兽人们经常使用与其它国家规格类似的武器，这些战争武器的基本设计非常相似，但无疑是兽人自己生产的。后来人们发现，兽人是通过黑市交易获取这些武器的设计图样的。
 
从各国窃取的设计方案和所需物品令兽人的制造业突飞猛进，兽人如今强烈依赖于其它种族在工程和建筑学上的成果，他们总会想方设法弄到这些，无论是偷窃还是购买。
 
所有兽人帝国都希望统治世界，但他们认为这一切都始于简单的一步。一旦发动战争的指令下达，整个兽人帝国将变成一台冷酷的战争机器，直到目标被征服，或者帝国覆灭。
 
兽人帝国以共和政体的形式存在，若干团体的领袖共同决定谁来担任皇帝。皇帝通常是帝国最强大的战士，经常是一位经历过无数次战斗的英雄。由于这样的缘故，兽人皇帝经常浑身上下都是战斗留下的伤痕，有时甚至肢体残疾。皇帝也经常是帝国中脾气最暴躁的人。
 
兽人帝国的战士或许可以算得上最优秀的战士，即便在战场上驰骋时，他们也保持着高度的纪律性。他们宁可战斗到死，也不会违背上级的命令。兽人战士是无畏的战士，他们为战斗所生，自出生之日起便接受战斗所需的训练。
 
兽人都是拉洛斯－泽克的虔诚信徒，但是他们与战术之神塔伦－泽克的直接关系同样人所众知。
 
塔伦－泽克是第一个兽人，一位至高无上的英雄，他是战术之神和胜利的赐予者，正是他给出了自己身体的一部分，至高无上的战争之神拉洛斯－泽克才得以将兽人带到诺拉斯大地上。拉洛斯－泽克从塔伦－泽克体内取出生命的种子，从而创造了兽人种族。
 
通过幻象和一些神迹，塔伦－泽克让兽人们知道了这段历史。如今，在兽人帝国中建有供奉塔伦－泽克的神庙，而兽人们也依然尊敬真正的战争之道——拉洛斯－泽克。
 
千百年来，兽人们证实了自己极强的适应能力。知道一些他们的古老历史对我们防止兽人重建他们的庞大帝国会有所帮助，毕竟，那些不了解敌人的人总是在不知不觉中被敌人消灭的——在他们已经无力阻止事情进展的时候。