機(jī)仆：本文節(jié)譯自異端之首。這部分之前的內(nèi)容是負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)視珞珈的禁軍小隊(duì)發(fā)現(xiàn)了受祝女士的異端行為并將其處決，之后禁軍們奪取了一架炮艇，飛往伊斯特萬(wàn)五號(hào)地表向泰拉報(bào)告情況。安格爾 塔發(fā)現(xiàn)后命令戰(zhàn)艦開(kāi)火，擊傷了炮艇。之后全體受祝之子前往地表獵殺禁軍小隊(duì)。

THE GUNSHIP LAY on its side, the very picture of twisted, miserable metal.

炮艇側(cè)倒在地上，摔成了一堆扭曲悲慘的金屬殘骸。

Red shards of hull were scattered across the?surrounding terrain, while one engine still valiantly coughed, wheezing smoke too oily and black to be healthy thruster emission. For almost a hundred metres behind, a furrow was carved into the soil where the Thunderhawk had come down and slid, shuddering, along the ground before ploughing headfirst into the ruins of a city wall. This eroded stone stood as warden around a long-forgotten city, home of a long-dead culture. Chunks of masonry broke off as the gunship smashed to a halt, and old stone rained onto the mangled hull plating, punctuating the abuse with a final insult.

紅色的船體碎片散落在周?chē)耐恋厣?，一個(gè)引擎仍然在硬撐著咳喘，不過(guò)它排出的廢煙過(guò)于油膩烏黑，不可能是功能良好推進(jìn)器的排放物。在炮艇身后大約一百米的地面上被鑿出了一條深溝——雷鷹炮艇曾在這里降落并滑行過(guò)，最后一頭撞進(jìn)了城墻的廢墟中。這塊被侵蝕的石頭守護(hù)著一座早已被被遺忘的城市——某種早已消亡的文化的家園。當(dāng)炮艇轟然停止時(shí)，大塊的磚石被其撞碎，然后這些古老的碎石又雨點(diǎn)般地落在破損的船體上，用自己的憤怒撞擊來(lái)表達(dá)最后的侮辱。

The sky lightened over the wreckage as sunrise came to Isstvan V. An unremarkable star winked over the horizon, more white than yellow, too distant to offer much warmth. On the other side of the continent, a great funeral pyre still burned.

伊斯特萬(wàn)五號(hào)升起了朝陽(yáng)，照亮了殘骸上方的天空。一顆不起眼的恒星閃爍在地平線上，它的光芒與其說(shuō)是黃色的，倒不如說(shuō)是白色的，它因?yàn)樘b遠(yuǎn)而無(wú)法提供太多的熱量。在這塊大陸的另一邊，城市要塞等一切事物都像一座葬禮柴堆那般在熊熊燃燒。

?

HE BREATHED THE cold dawn air through open jaws, tasting burning oil on the wind. His brothers, his crimson kin, hunted around and through the gunship’s wreckage, seeking any spoor. Behind them, their drop-pod still hissed and creaked as the metal strained in the aftermath of plummeting through the atmosphere.

安格爾 塔張開(kāi)嘴，品嘗著油料在風(fēng)中燃燒的味道。他的兄弟們，他身披猩紅戰(zhàn)甲的胞親們正在炮艇內(nèi)外和四周到處獵尋，搜索著任何蛛絲馬跡。停在他們身后空降艙仍然在吱嘎作響——金屬在飛速穿過(guò)大氣層后出現(xiàn)了熱脹冷縮。

‘They have not been down long enough to hide.’ Xaphen spoke the words as an assured threat. At his side, Malnor was a twitching, ragged creature that drooled venom. Torgal climbed the gunship like something grotesquely simian, leaping and hooking into the hull with his bone-scythes to haul himself upward. His blinded face jerked to the side as he gave canine snuffs. Argel Tal stalked around the gunship’s base, his claws folding closed into knuckly fists, then opening again into raptor talons. Like a desert jackal pack, the eleven remaining Gal Vorbak swarmed the downed Thunderhawk, sniffing out their prey. They did not need to hunt for long.

“他們下來(lái)沒(méi)多久，時(shí)間不足以讓他們找到藏身之處?！辟惙乙砸环N頗有把握的威脅口氣說(shuō)到。站在他身邊的馬諾爾正在抽搐著，口中淌出毒液。托爾戈像一只怪異的猿猴那樣爬上炮艇，他跳躍著，并用自己的骨鐮刀鉤住船體，把自己向上拉去。他發(fā)出犬類(lèi)嗅探的鼻息聲，同時(shí)將自己那張沒(méi)有雙眼的臉猛地歪向一邊。安格爾·塔爾在炮艇殘骸所在地周?chē)鷣?lái)回踱步，他的手爪緊握成拳頭，然后又再次張開(kāi)成猛禽般的利爪。僅剩的十一名受祝之子如同沙漠中的豺狼群般蜂擁在墜毀的雷鷹旁邊，嗅到了他們獵物的氣息。他們就要獵捕到禁軍們了。

‘So, at last, comes the Crimson Lord.’ Aquillon’s voice was biting in its insincerity. ‘Revealing his true self to those he has betrayed.’

“所以，猩紅領(lǐng)主最終還是親自大駕光臨了?！卑⒖〉恼Z(yǔ)氣中毫無(wú)誠(chéng)意，“還對(duì)那些慘遭他背叛的人露出了他真實(shí)的自我?！?/p>

The Custodes walked from the shadow of a broken wing, their weapons held in loose hands. Each of them exuded rigid confidence. Their gait was assured, their shoulders back, their armour damaged and dented, but ostensibly whole.

禁軍們從殘破機(jī)翼的陰影中走了出來(lái)，武器放松地?cái)堅(jiān)谑掷铮總€(gè)人都流露出十足的自信。他們步態(tài)穩(wěn)健，肩膀向后仰，盔甲受損也出現(xiàn)了凹陷，但表面上仍是完整的。

The Gal Vorbak closed in. At the centre of the crimson circle, the three golden warriors went back to back. They offered the Word Bearers nothing but breastplates emblazoned with the Imperial eagle, and blades that would only ever rise in the Emperor’s service. Of the Astartes Legions, only one had ever been honoured enough to engrave the aquila upon their armour – the once-noble Emperor’s Children, now a core part of the Warmaster’s rebellion. But these were Imperial Custodians, the praetorians of the Master of Mankind, and kept their mandate far above such concerns. The Custodes wore the aquila more often than the primarchs themselves. Each eagle symbol shone on their chests in solid silver, clutching lightning bolts in their claws. Nowhere else in the Imperium were the two symbols of the Emperor’s ascension twinned like this: forged into the armour of his chosen guardians.

受祝之子們逼近了禁軍小隊(duì)。猩紅色戰(zhàn)甲的戰(zhàn)士們圍成一圈，將三名背靠背的金甲戰(zhàn)士圍在中央。禁軍們挺起胸，以裝飾著帝國(guó)雄鷹的胸甲面對(duì)著懷言者們，他們舉起那只有在為皇帝服務(wù)時(shí)才會(huì)執(zhí)其的利刃，鋒芒直指受祝之子們。在阿斯塔特軍團(tuán)中，只有一個(gè)軍團(tuán)榮耀到足以在自己的動(dòng)力甲上雕刻帝國(guó)天鷹的標(biāo)志——曾經(jīng)高貴的帝皇之子軍團(tuán)，但現(xiàn)在他們是參與戰(zhàn)帥叛亂的核心部分之一。但懷言者們眼前的這些戰(zhàn)士是帝國(guó)禁軍——他們是人類(lèi)之主的御林禁衛(wèi)，對(duì)自己命令的關(guān)注高于一切。禁軍們胸甲上的雄鷹標(biāo)志是純銀質(zhì)地，它們閃耀著光芒，利爪里抓握著閃電。在人類(lèi)帝國(guó)中，只有禁軍身上才會(huì)像這樣同時(shí)出現(xiàn)帝皇升天的兩個(gè)象征標(biāo)志：它們被鑄造成了帝國(guó)選定的衛(wèi)士的甲胄。

The hunters drew even closer. At their vanguard, Argel Tal spared a brief moment’s concern for the fact the Custodes had not fired upon them. Perhaps they lacked ammunition after the battle aboard the ship. Perhaps they wished to end this cleanly, with blades rather than bolters.

獵手們更為逼近了。站在他們最前面的安格爾 塔抽出短暫地分了下神，思索禁軍并未向他們開(kāi)火這個(gè)事實(shí)。或許在經(jīng)歷了飛船上的戰(zhàn)斗后，他們?nèi)狈椝帲换蛟S他們是想用利刃而非爆彈來(lái)干凈利落地結(jié)束這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)斗。

‘You killed Cyrene,’ he said, the words thickened by spite and the acidic bile stringing between his jaws.

“你殺了賽蕾妮?！彼f(shuō)到，話語(yǔ)因怨恨而變得更加沉重，酸性的膽汁垂掛在他的口中。

‘I executed a traitor who had borne witness to a Legion’s sins.’ Aquillon aimed at his sword at Argel Tal’s warped visage. ‘In the name of the Emperor, what are you? You seem more nightmare than man.’

“我宰掉的是一個(gè)見(jiàn)證了某軍團(tuán)罪孽的叛徒?！卑⒖≌虅χ敝赴哺駹?塔被亞空間扭曲了的面容，“以帝皇之名，你是個(gè)什么？相比于人類(lèi)，你看起來(lái)可更像噩夢(mèng)里的東西?！?/p>

‘We are the truth,’ Xaphen barked at the trapped Custodes. ‘We are the Gal Vorbak, the chosen of the gods.’ All the while, the Word Bearers stalked closer. A noose was closing around the Custodians.

“吾等乃真相?！辟惙胰缤桶阆虮粐У慕妭兒鸬?，“吾等乃受祝之子，諸神之親選。”與此同時(shí)，懷言者們步步逼近，對(duì)于禁軍的包圍圈正在收緊。

‘Look upon yourselves,’ Aquillon said in disbelief. ‘You have cast aside the Emperor’s vision of perfection. You have abandoned everything it meant to be human.’

“好好看看你們自己吧?！卑⒖∫院翢o(wú)信任的口氣說(shuō)到，“你們已經(jīng)把帝皇對(duì)于完美的宏愿一腳踢開(kāi)了；你們已經(jīng)拋棄了作為人類(lèi)的一切?！?/p>

‘We were never human!’ Hissing spit sprayed from Argel Tal’s jaws as he roared the words. ‘We. Were. Never. Human. We were taken from our families to fight the Forever War in the name of a thousand lies. Do you believe this truth is easy to bear? Look at us. Look at us!Humanity will embrace the gods, or humanity will embrace oblivion. We have seen the Imperium burn. We have seen the species brought to extinction. We have seen it happen, as it happened before. The cycle of life in a galaxy owned by laughing, thirsting gods.’

“我們從來(lái)都不是人類(lèi)！”安格爾 塔咆哮到，嘶嘶作響的（酸性）口水從他口中噴出，“我、們、從、來(lái)、都、不、是、人、類(lèi)。以那一千個(gè)謊言的名義，我們被從自己的家中帶走，然后被丟進(jìn)永無(wú)止境的戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中。你以為背負(fù)真相很容易嗎？看著我，好好看看我！人類(lèi)將要擁抱諸神，否則就得去擁抱毀滅。我們已經(jīng)看到了帝國(guó)被焚滅。我們已經(jīng)看到了（諸多）種族走向滅絕。我們已經(jīng)看到了這一切的發(fā)生，就曾經(jīng)發(fā)生過(guò)的那樣。那些嘲笑著眾生的饑渴諸神掌控著銀河系中生命的循環(huán)。”

Aquillon’s voice held nothing but kindness, and that made it all the crueller. ‘My friend, my brother, you have been deceived. The Emperor—’

阿奎隆的聲音中唯有仁慈而已，但這也讓說(shuō)出的一切顯得更為殘酷。“我的朋友，我的兄弟，你已經(jīng)被蒙騙了。帝皇…”

‘The Emperor knows far more than he has ever revealed to you,’ Xaphen cut in. ‘The Emperor knows the Primordial truth. He has challenged the gods and damned humanity with his hubris. Only through allegiance…’

“帝皇所知曉的內(nèi)容遠(yuǎn)比他揭示給你們的要眾多，”賽芬插話到，“帝皇知道原初真理，他挑戰(zhàn)了諸神，也因自己的傲慢使人類(lèi)遭受詛咒。只有通過(guò)忠誠(chéng)…”

‘…through worship…’ said Malnor.

“…通過(guò)祈禱…”馬諾爾說(shuō)到

‘…through faith…’ said Torgal.

“…通過(guò)信仰…”托爾戈說(shuō)到

‘…will mankind endure the endless wars against the tides of blood that will drown our galaxy.’

“…人類(lèi)才能忍受住那對(duì)抗將會(huì)淹沒(méi)銀河的血潮的無(wú)盡戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)?！?/p>

Aquillon turned to each of the Word Bearers as they spoke their piece of the sermon. He looked back to Argel Tal at its conclusion.

當(dāng)每位懷言者講出自己的那部分布道時(shí)，阿奎隆都會(huì)轉(zhuǎn)向發(fā)言者。當(dāng)發(fā)言結(jié)束后，他又看向了安格爾 塔。

‘Brother,’ he said again. ‘You have been most blackly deceived.’

“兄弟，”他再次說(shuō)到，“你遭受了最為嚴(yán)重的蒙騙?！?/p>

‘You. Killed. Cyrene.’

“你、殺、了、賽、蕾、妮”

‘And you count this as some unfathomable betrayal?’ Aquillon’s laughter was rich and ripe, and to hear it made Argel Tal’s teeth grind. ‘You, who stand out of the Emperor’s light, malformed into a monster. You, who binds tortured souls into the walls of your ship with forbidden lore, letting them suck in all psychic sound for forty years? You, accuse me of betrayal?’

“所以你就把這當(dāng)成是某種難以理解的背叛？”阿奎隆的笑聲豐滿而成熟，安格爾·塔爾卻聽(tīng)得咬牙切齒。“你，一個(gè)在帝皇的榮光之下脫穎而出的人，卻把自己畸變成了一只怪物；你還用禁忌的知識(shí)把飽受折磨的靈魂禁錮在飛船的墻壁里，讓他們?cè)陂L(zhǎng)達(dá)四十年的時(shí)間里吸收所有的靈能聲響？你還指責(zé)我背信棄義？”

Even through the daemon’s rage fogging his thoughts, even through his grief-born anger at Cyrene’s murder, his brother’s words struck with enough force to wound. Argel Tal had walked through that chamber himself many times, and no matter how ardently he hated the necessity of it, he had still allowed its existence.

盡管惡魔的憤怒模糊了他的思想，盡管賽蕾妮被殺令他由悲生怒，但兄弟的一席話仍以足夠的力道傷害了安格爾 塔。安格爾 塔多次親身走過(guò)那間艙室，無(wú)論他多么痛恨這間艙室存在的必要，他還是允許了這一切的存在。

Images assailed him with guilty stabs, each memory knifing into him before he could cast it aside. Xaphen, chanting from the Book of Lorgar, as an astropath shrieked before him. She was being disembowelled, and not quickly, her pain serving as a focus while she was chained to the chamber walls. Colchisian symbols that had been tattooed onto her flesh an hour before still bled freely. The vitae engines, maintained by an Apothecary of the Legion, would keep her alive for many months to come. The daemon Xaphen summoned within her would enslave her mind to that most simple of tasks: to draw in and digest any psychic communication from nearby minds.

種種情形回放在他眼前，每一幕都帶著罪惡的尖刺向他襲來(lái)，在他甩開(kāi)自己的過(guò)往之前，每一段段回憶都如匕首般刺痛了他。回憶場(chǎng)景中的人是賽芬，當(dāng)一名星語(yǔ)者在他面前尖叫時(shí)，他正在吟誦珞珈之書(shū)里的章句。星語(yǔ)者正在被緩慢地肢解，當(dāng)她被鎖在艙室的墻壁上時(shí)， 她的痛苦成為焦點(diǎn)。科爾奇斯符號(hào)一個(gè)小時(shí)前被紋刺在了她的身上，傷口還在不停流血。一位軍團(tuán)藥劑師用生命維持引擎維持著她的生命——星語(yǔ)者要活著等待眾位食客前來(lái)饜享。賽芬召喚到星語(yǔ)者體內(nèi)的惡魔將會(huì)奴役她的意識(shí)，令其執(zhí)行一項(xiàng)最簡(jiǎn)單的任務(wù)：吸引并消化來(lái)自周?chē)庾R(shí)的任何靈能精神交流。

No word would ever reach Terra, but for the falsified reports the Word Bearers made themselves. Compliances achieved. The perfect Legion. Lorgar, the Seventeenth Son, as loyal as any father could hope.

除了懷言者們自己偽造的報(bào)告之外，（其他）任何信息都不會(huì)抵達(dá)泰拉?！版?zhèn)壓任務(wù)已經(jīng)完成”。（在被蒙蔽的帝國(guó)面前，）懷言者仍是完美的軍團(tuán)；帝皇的第十七位子嗣——珞珈，仍然想他父親期望的那樣忠誠(chéng)。

‘I accuse you,’ Xaphen laughed himself, ‘of being a fool. Your precious astropath has been wailing your suspicions right into the mouths of listening daemons for four decades. Every time you huddled around him and heard the Emperor’s words, you were hearing nothing more than the lies I whispered into a daemon’s ears.’

賽芬自顧自地笑到：“我指控你的愚蠢。在這四十年里，你那位寶貴的星語(yǔ)者把你們的懷疑一字不落地送進(jìn)了監(jiān)聽(tīng)惡魔的口中。而每當(dāng)你們聚在他的身邊，傾聽(tīng)帝皇圣旨時(shí)，聽(tīng)到的不過(guò)是我在惡魔耳邊低語(yǔ)的謊言罷了?！?/p>

Argel Tal did not add to Xaphen’s relish. The chamber was no source of sinister pride for him. He had condemned not one woman to die in agony there, but sixty-one souls in all. The strain of possession wore the astropaths down with disgusting rapidity. Their degradation was quick, but never merciful. Stinking black cancers ate through their bodies after only a few months. Most faded fast, their minds eroded by the warp’s winds like a cliff suffering in an endless storm. Few ever lasted a year – soon enough, it was always time to bind another helpless, screaming astropath into the life support engines, and inflict horrors upon their flesh with ritual blades and burning brands.

安格爾 塔并未對(duì)賽芬的得意賣(mài)弄進(jìn)行補(bǔ)充。對(duì)他而言，那間艙室并非是某種不詳自豪的來(lái)源。他已經(jīng)推斷出痛苦地在那間艙室中逝去的并非只有一個(gè)女人，而是總計(jì)六十一個(gè)靈魂。被惡魔附體的壓力令星語(yǔ)者們以令人厭惡的快速變得疲憊不堪。他們很快就會(huì)崩潰，而且過(guò)程痛苦。僅僅數(shù)個(gè)月后，惡臭的黑色毒瘤就會(huì)侵蝕他們?nèi)?。大多?shù)星語(yǔ)者很快就會(huì)死掉，他們的意識(shí)遭受著亞空間之風(fēng)的侵蝕， 就像在無(wú)休止的暴風(fēng)雨中飽經(jīng)凌虐的崖岸一樣。極少數(shù)人能撐到一年——很快，懷言者們就會(huì)把另一個(gè)尖叫著的無(wú)助星語(yǔ)者拖進(jìn)那臺(tái)生命維持引擎，并用儀式利刃和燃燒著的烙鐵在他們身上強(qiáng)行刻出恐怖的符文。

He considered it part of his penance to watch each binding. Each time, he would wait for the moment when the captive’s eyes would glaze, not in death,but in surrender. Each time he would watch for that precious second when the daemon’s consciousness devoured its way to the fore of the victim’s mind. The screaming would cease. Silence would resume, blessed in the wake of such sounds.

他認(rèn)為觀看每一次綁定儀式都是他懺悔的一部分。每一次，他都會(huì)等待著被囚禁的星語(yǔ)者雙眼發(fā)光的一刻——但這是屈服，而非死亡。每次他都會(huì)等待著那寶貴的（最后）一秒——彼時(shí)，惡魔的靈智會(huì)吞噬受害者腦中的意識(shí)來(lái)加以取代。嚎叫聲停止，一切歸于寧?kù)o——在聽(tīng)過(guò)那種恐怖的哀嚎聲之后，能有這份寂靜真是謝天謝地。

Nineteen had volunteered. Nineteen members of the fleet’s astropathic choir, nourished by years of Xaphen’s sermons, had volunteered for the honour of keeping the Legion’s greatest secrets. Curiously, these burned out the fastest, succumbing to biological erosion before those who were unwillingly bound. It seemed suffering was a source of strength in the ritual – Xaphen had noted it, and informed Erebus. He received thanks in return, and the rite was amended in the Book of Lorgar. Xaphen had blazed with pride for weeks afterward.

有十九個(gè)人主動(dòng)獻(xiàn)出了自己。在賽芬多年布道的熏陶下，艦隊(duì)星語(yǔ)唱詩(shī)班中有十九位成員主動(dòng)獻(xiàn)身，獲取了守住軍團(tuán)中最偉大秘密的榮耀。但奇怪的是，這些人生命燃燒的速度最快，他們死于生體侵蝕受損的時(shí)間早于那些非自愿接受綁定的人。似乎苦難折磨才是儀式中的力量來(lái)源——賽芬指出了這一點(diǎn)，這也提醒了艾瑞巴斯。首席牧師對(duì)賽芬投桃報(bào)李，珞珈之書(shū)中也對(duì)儀式（過(guò)程）進(jìn)行了修訂。在此后的幾周中，賽芬的得意之色都溢于言表。

The Custodes had found the chamber at the heart of the monastic deck, but someone, somewhere, somehow, had found it first. Aquillon had been led there. Of that, Argel Tal was certain. He vowed in silence then. Whoever that treasonous soul might be, he would pull it apart and feast upon its flesh.

禁軍們已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了這間位于修道院甲板的艙室，但這是某個(gè)人在某個(gè)地方，因不知何故首先找到了它，阿奎隆是被引導(dǎo)到那里的。安格爾 塔確信這一點(diǎn)。他當(dāng)時(shí)默默發(fā)誓：無(wú)論做出這種背叛行徑的人是誰(shuí)，他都會(huì)將其撕開(kāi)，并飽食其血肉。

‘We were never human.’ He said the words quietly, not even realising he spoke them aloud. Raum seized hold in the moment of melancholic anger, and the body they shared broke forward into a run.

“我們從來(lái)都不是人類(lèi)?！彼鲅院芸?，甚至都沒(méi)意識(shí)到自己是大聲說(shuō)出了這句話。勞姆在這憂郁憤怒時(shí)刻抓住了身體的控制權(quán)， 他們共享的身體向前沖去。

‘For the Emperor!’ Aquillon cried.

“為了帝皇！”阿奎隆吼道。

The Gal Vorbak answered with the laughter of daemons.

受祝之子們回敬以惡魔的哂笑聲。

?

IN THE YEARS to come, Argel Tal recalled precious little of the battle. Sometimes he attributed this to Raum’s presence in ascendancy, sometimes he attributed it to his own guilt seeking to purge the night from his mind. Whatever the truth, any reminiscence left him hollow and worn, at the mercy of fragmented images and half-remembered sounds.

在之后的歲月中，安格爾 塔對(duì)這次戰(zhàn)斗的回憶（只）是珍貴的些許。有時(shí)他將此歸咎于勞姆占據(jù)了主導(dǎo)地位，有時(shí)他將其歸因于他自己試圖將黑夜從他的腦海中清除出來(lái)的內(nèi)疚。但無(wú)論真相為何，任何回憶都讓他空洞而疲憊，任由碎片化的圖像和記憶模糊的聲音擺布自己。

It was like thinking back to the moments of earliest childhood, before genetics had shaped his mind with an eidetic memory, when it was a struggle to fill a forgotten time with all five senses and make them feel real.

這就像回憶自己最早的童年歲月——那是生物遺傳規(guī)律用確鑿的記憶塑造他頭腦之前的時(shí)光，這種經(jīng)歷是一場(chǎng)斗爭(zhēng)，你得用所有五種感官填補(bǔ)被遺忘的時(shí)間，并讓它們感到真實(shí)。

We were never human. He never forgot those words, nor how they were both true and false, all at once.

“我們從來(lái)都不是人類(lèi)?！彼麖奈赐涍@句話，也從未忘記這句話為何真假共存。

Malnor.

馬諾爾。

Malnor sometimes rose from the churning mess and resolved with clarity. When had Malnor died? How long had they been fighting? He wasn’t sure. Nirallus’s blade had hewn the Gal Vorbak’s head clean from his shoulders, but Malnor did not fall. A wraithly image of his helm remained, snarling and shouting in silence. Nirallus, a blade master beyond anything Argel Tal had ever seen, had been forced to carve Malnor to pieces to put the warrior down for good.

馬諾爾有時(shí)會(huì)從他攪動(dòng)著的混亂記憶中站出來(lái)， 變得清晰。馬諾爾死于何時(shí)？他們奮戰(zhàn)了多久？安格爾 塔也不確定。尼拉魯斯的利刃干凈利落地從受祝之子的腦袋從肩上砍下，但馬諾爾并未倒下。他的脖子上仍然存留著幽靈般的影像，而且面容就是馬諾爾的頭盔，仍在無(wú)聲地咆哮與嘶吼。尼拉魯斯，這位安格爾 塔所見(jiàn)過(guò)的最優(yōu)秀劍術(shù)大師，被迫剁碎了馬諾爾的軀體來(lái)永遠(yuǎn)放倒這名戰(zhàn)士。

The fight was too frantic and frenetic for sanity to have any place in its motions. Thought and formality vanished, replaced by training and instinct. A blur of blades and claws. The crack of ceramite. The grunts of pain. The smells of spit, of acid, of sweat, of parchment, of bone, of panic, of confidence, of smoky bolter muzzles, of charged blades, of tear-salt, of breath, of blood, and blood, and blood.

這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)斗太過(guò)瘋狂，其中全無(wú)理智的容身之處。思索和拘謹(jǐn)消失不見(jiàn)，訓(xùn)練和直覺(jué)取而代之。這是一段關(guān)于利刃對(duì)抗利爪的模糊記憶。安格爾 塔記得陶鋼破裂的聲音、痛苦咕噥的聲音，還有氣味：唾沫、酸液、汗水、羊皮紙、骨頭、慌亂、自信、冒煙的爆彈槍口、充能的利刃、咸的淚水、呼吸，還有血的味道，是血液，是鮮血。

And then, the first kill.

然后就是第一次殺戮。

Nirallus. The blade master. He killed Malnor, and that left him vulnerable. Torgal and Sicar had leapt onto the Custodian’s back. Chop, chop, chop went the hacking blades, biting into armour joints at the back of the neck and the base of the spine. A life for a life.

尼拉魯斯，那位劍術(shù)大師，他殺了馬諾爾。托爾戈和西卡爾跳上了禁軍的后背，用劈砍利刃進(jìn)行揮砍，他們砍穿了禁軍脖子后側(cè)與脊柱末端鎧甲的接縫。一命償一命。

Nirallus fell. Torgal leaped away, to safety. Sicar stayed to feed, and earned death himself. Aquillon. The Occuli Imperator. He avenged his brother’s slaughter by ending Sicar a heartbeat later with clean, bright sweeps of his sword.

尼拉魯斯倒下了。托爾戈跳到一邊以尋求安全，西卡爾則待在原地準(zhǔn)備進(jìn)食，結(jié)果送了命。阿奎隆，這位帝國(guó)圣者為自己的兄弟復(fù)了仇，在一次心跳的時(shí)間之后，他干凈利落地?fù)]劍數(shù)次，斬殺了西卡爾。

Argel Tal was on him in that moment. He remembered the leap, and the soreness in his throat as he roared once more. He remembered the juicy, meaty crunch as the Custodian’s head ripped free of its neck. Like a flopping serpent, Aquillon’s spine hung down from the dripping helm. A dizzying stench of blood; a maddened laugh that may or may not have been Argel Tal at all. He never knew for certain.

在那個(gè)時(shí)刻，安格爾 塔控制著自己的身體。他記得那次跳躍，以及自己再次咆哮時(shí)喉嚨中的酸灼感。他記得禁軍的腦袋與脖子斷開(kāi)時(shí)那種多汁肉感的破裂聲，阿奎隆的脊柱從滴著血的頭盔里垂下來(lái)，就像一條翻滾著的蛇。他記得那股令人眩暈的血臭味，和一陣瘋狂的笑聲——發(fā)出聲音的可能是安格爾 塔，但也可能不是。他從來(lái)都沒(méi)搞清楚過(guò)。

Six of the Gal Vorbak still drew breath. Six possessed warriors gave their desert dog cackles and ran for the last Custodes with daemonic vigour burning in their limbs.

仍然活著的受祝之子還有六名。這六名附魔戰(zhàn)士們的肢體中燃燒著惡魔的活力，他們發(fā)出沙漠野犬（吠叫）般的咯咯大笑，沖向了最后一名禁軍。

And this was the last moment Argel Tal could ever recall, until the air was cold again and it was all over. Sythran pulled his helm free, and faced them bareheaded. Instead of waiting with his halberd in hand, he hurled it as a spear.

這就是安格爾 塔能回憶起的最后一刻，直到空氣再次冷卻，一切全部結(jié)束。希斯蘭拽下了自己的頭盔，用真實(shí)的面容面對(duì)著他們。他并未手握短劍等著懷言者們撲上前來(lái)，而是把武器作為長(zhǎng)矛丟了出去。

The Gal Vorbak scattered, but it still struck home. One of them took the blade in the chest with a crack like a falling tree. The spear pounded through ceramite, bone and meat with enough force to burst from the Word Bearer’s back. The Astartes flipped over with the impact, his chest cavity stripped hollow, his lungs and two hearts blasted out of him, reduced to pulped meat on the ground.

受祝之子們散開(kāi)躲閃，但短劍仍然正中目標(biāo)——隨著一聲如同樹(shù)木倒下的（胸甲）破裂聲響，這柄武器插入了一名星際戰(zhàn)士的胸膛。這把被用作投矛的利刃以足夠的力道穿透了那名懷言者的陶鋼板甲、骨骼和肉體，最后從被擊中者的背后爆出。武器的沖擊力使這名阿斯塔特身體翻轉(zhuǎn)，他的胸膛被穿成了一個(gè)空腔——他的肺和兩顆心臟被從體內(nèi)炸出，成為一攤?cè)鲈诘厣系乃槿鉂{。

Sythran had smiled as the other five descended upon him. He considered his vow of silence complete given the circumstances, and he laughed at the warrior he’d killed.

當(dāng)另外五個(gè)受祝之子向他蜂擁而來(lái)時(shí)，希斯蘭微笑著。鑒于當(dāng)時(shí)的情況，他認(rèn)為自己已經(jīng)完成了保持沉默的誓言，他嘲笑了那名已被自己殺死的戰(zhàn)士。

‘I always hated you, Xaphen.’

“我向來(lái)討厭你，賽芬?！?/p>