The Fallen Crusader

失落的遠征軍

The Raven Guard had but days to consolidate after their victory before another Iron Warriors armoured column was reported pressing eastwards across the wastes, winding its way into the twisting ravines of the Illium Rifts. Lord Corax ordered an immediate and overwhelming attack, forging the ire of his warriors into a weapon no Traitor could stand against. The Primarch mustered his assault formations and led his force out into the ravines, his expression making it clear to all he had bloodshed on his mind.

在獲勝之后，暗鴉守衛(wèi)們僅有幾天時間來鞏固戰(zhàn)果。之后，另一支鋼鐵勇士裝甲縱隊被報告正在向東穿越廢土荒原，進入了Illium裂谷蜿蜒的峽谷?？死怂姑畎跌f守衛(wèi)們進行了一次迅速且壓倒性的進攻，他將戰(zhàn)士們的怒火鍛造為任何叛徒都無法抵擋的武器。原體集結起進攻部隊，率領他們進入了峽谷，他臉上的表情清楚地表明他心中的所思所想：他要讓叛徒們血流成河。

The battle that ensued took place in the abyssal darkness of the ravines and was as bitterly fought as any boarding action or hive scouring the Legion had ever undertaken. The lead squads of both sides ground into one another as they fought hand-to-hand across a frontage often as narrow as a single warrior. Soon, the deep gorges were choked with the dead and the dying of both sides, forcing Legionaries to step over the writhing forms of their brothers in the effort to engage the foe. The Primarch was ever to be found at the heart of the fight, while the jump pack-equipped units made wide outflanking manoeuvres so that the Iron Warriors were cut off?attacked from multiple directions with no hope of retreat. The sons of Perturabo might have been traitors and turncoats, but they fought with all the determination of the Legiones Astartes, made all the more concentrated by the knowledge that they were doomed. The Iron Warriors fought without thought or expectation of quarter, their manner bitter, cold and inexorable, each Legionary having accepted the fact of his death long ago and caring not for the specifics of the time and place of its coming. The Iron Warriors gave not an inch even as their dead choked the gullies.

接下來的戰(zhàn)斗是在深不可測的黑暗峽谷中進行的，其慘烈程度與暗鴉守衛(wèi)軍團曾經進行過的任何跳幫行動或巢都掃蕩行動都相當。雙方領頭的小隊們都混戰(zhàn)作了一團，他們在通常狹窄到僅能讓一名戰(zhàn)士通過的陣線上短兵相接。很快，高深的峽谷中就堆滿了雙方部隊的死者與垂死者，這迫使軍團戰(zhàn)士們跨過自己兄弟們扭動著的軀體來試圖與敵人交戰(zhàn)。人們也在戰(zhàn)斗的中心發(fā)現(xiàn)了原體的身影，同時裝備了噴射背包的單位們進行了大范圍的迂回機動包抄。來自多個方向的進攻切斷了鋼鐵勇士們之間的聯(lián)系，令他們毫無撤退的希望。佩圖拉博的子嗣們可能是叛徒和變節(jié)者，但他們也是在帶著阿斯塔特軍團戰(zhàn)士的全副決心在進行戰(zhàn)斗，而且因為知道自己注定會遭受毀滅，所以他們更加全力以赴。這些鋼鐵勇士們在戰(zhàn)斗時沒有過一刻的思慮或期待，他們的戰(zhàn)斗手段苦澀、冷酷且勢不可擋，所有軍團戰(zhàn)士們都在很久之前就接受了自己（已經）死亡的事實，也不在乎死亡到來的具體時間地點。哪怕他們的尸體堵住了溝壑，鋼鐵勇士們也仍舊寸步不讓。

At length, the Traitors were reduced to a single mass concentrated into a deep crater, the Raven Guard pressing in from four separate gullies. Though less than a hundred Iron Warriors remained, they were bolstered by the presence of a dozen Dreadnoughts of varying patterns. The Raven Guard slowed their advance, knowing that to press further was to crash against the solid ring of ceramite and steel formed by the towering Iron Warriors Dreadnoughts. Visual recordings from the Raven Guards' visors show that as the tide of battle receded for the first time in hours, the surviving sons of Perturabo mustered in silence while the grim-faced Raven Guard stepped back towards the shadowed gullies. From the Loyalists' midst strode the Raven Lord, his expression unreadable but his void-black eyes fixed upon the nearest of the enemy war engines, an ancient Contemptor class Dreadnought, its power claws encrusted with the dried blood of all those it had slain since the day of betrayal. A single word passed between them, the Primarch speaking the name of the Iron Warriors veteran within the Contemptor, evidence that the two must have fought alongside one another during the Great Crusade. This curse spoken, the two squared off against one another in the manner of pit fighters preparing to fight to the death for some master lusting for blood.

最終，叛軍們的人數(shù)減少到只剩一群，并且集中到了一個深坑中；暗鴉守衛(wèi)們從四條獨立的溝壑峽谷中向他們逼近。雖然剩余的鋼鐵勇士僅有不到一百人，但十二臺各種型號的無畏機甲強化了他們的武力。暗鴉守衛(wèi)們減緩了自己的前進（速度），他們明白：如果繼續(xù)向前挺近，他們就將撞上由高大的鋼鐵勇士無畏機甲所組成的陶鋼與金屬材質的堅固防御環(huán)。提取自暗鴉守衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)士護面甲的視頻記錄表明：隨著戰(zhàn)斗的浪潮在幾個小時內第一次消退，幸存的佩圖拉博子嗣們無聲地集結著，而面容冷峻的暗鴉守衛(wèi)們退向了陰影籠罩著的溝壑峽谷。渡鴉之主從忠誠派的部隊中大步走出，他的表情讓人捉摸不透，但他那雙虛空般漆黑的眼睛盯著離他最近的敵軍戰(zhàn)爭機器——那是一臺古老的蔑視者型無畏機甲，他的動力爪上沾滿了自背叛之日以來所有遭其殺戮之人的干血。兩者之間僅有一句交談——原體說出了那名葬入蔑視者無畏的鋼鐵勇士老兵的姓名，這證明兩者一定在大遠征時期并肩作戰(zhàn)過。當說出了這句詛咒之后，兩人相互擺好對決的架勢，猶如準備為了嗜血的主人們而戰(zhàn)斗至死的深坑斗士們一般。

The visor-recordings which show this battle were barely able to register the speed and violence of what was to happen next; the Primarch leaping high into the air and coming to land atop the Dreadnought's back in a flickering dark blur. Even as the serrated blades of the Contemptor's power claws sought in vain to grapple the Primarch, Corax used one hand to steady himself on an exhaust stack, while plunging the other through the Dreadnought's ceramite armour. In utter silence, the Raven Lord withdrew his arm to hold aloft the armoured brain case and trailing spinal column of the veteran Iron Warriors Legionary who had been interred within the sarcophagus. A moment later, the Contemptor's systems disengaged and the once-mighty war engine collapsed, the Primarch leaping clear before it hit the ground. This was the signal to attack.

為我們展示這場戰(zhàn)斗的護面甲錄像記錄幾乎無法記錄接下來發(fā)生時間的速度和暴力（程度）;原體躍入高空，之后在一片閃爍的模糊陰影中降落在了無畏機甲的背上。就在蔑視者無畏機甲的鋸齒狀利爪徒勞地想要抓住原體時，科拉克斯用一只手抓緊排氣管以穩(wěn)住自己，同時用另一只手猛然擊穿了無畏機甲的陶鋼裝甲。渡鴉之主全然沉默著，他抽回了胳膊，舉起了一副裝甲包裹著的腦箱與脫垂著的脊柱——這些東西屬于那位被葬于鐵棺之內的鋼鐵勇士老兵。片刻之后，蔑視者無畏的系統(tǒng)停止運行，曾經強大的戰(zhàn)爭引擎轟然倒地，而在其撞到地面之前，原體便從機甲上跳離。這是進攻的信號。

The Raven Guard leapt from the dark to fall upon the beleaguered Iron Warriors. The two forces crashed together, the Primarch engaging several more Dreadnoughts as his assault squads cut into the enemy Legionaries. Though dozens more Raven Guard warriors gave their lives to defeat the last of the enemy, not a single Iron Warriors Legionary was allowed to escape, and in truth none attempted to do so, each fighting to the bitter end. Eventually, silence descended upon the scene, the rocky floor of the crater carpeted in the broken bodies of over a hundred Iron Warriors and not a small number of Raven Guard. In amongst the wreckage were the ruined, smoking hulks of a dozen Dreadnoughts, the remains of the once-mighty heroes interred within cast to the bloody ground by the vengeful Primarch of the Raven Guard. His contempt for the scope of their fall from grace was writ across his grim visage.

暗鴉守衛(wèi)們從黑暗中一躍而出，向四面楚歌的鋼鐵勇士們發(fā)起進攻。兩支部隊碰撞交鋒到了一起，在暗鴉守衛(wèi)的突擊小隊們切入敵群的同時，原體則在與其他數(shù)臺無畏機甲交戰(zhàn)。盡管有數(shù)十名暗鴉守衛(wèi)戰(zhàn)士犧牲在了擊敗殘敵的戰(zhàn)斗中，但鋼鐵勇士們也無人逃脫——事實上他們當中也沒有人試圖逃生，而是全部戰(zhàn)斗到了苦澀的終局。最終，戰(zhàn)場上陷入了寂靜，坑底遍布巖石的地面上到處都是破碎的尸體：超過一百名鋼鐵勇士和為數(shù)不少的暗鴉守衛(wèi)死在了這場戰(zhàn)斗中。在這些尸體中間，還有十二臺無畏機甲冒著煙的殘骸，滿懷復仇怒火的暗鴉守衛(wèi)原體掏出了這些埋葬在鐵棺中的曾經強大的戰(zhàn)士的遺骸，丟在了血淋淋的地面上。他那副嚴肅的面容上寫滿了對于叛徒們墮落程度（之深）的蔑視。

With a nod, the Raven Lord gave the order for his force to withdraw, the dead left in their wake a powerful message to the Traitors. It would not be the last of its kind.

暗鴉之主點了點頭，向部隊下達了撤退的命令，他們丟在身后的尸體給了叛徒們一條強力的信息：這不會是暗鴉守衛(wèi)們處決的最后一批敵人。

Into the Rifts

進入裂谷

As the shadow play of resistance and search, hard-fought ambush and flight wore on, the presence of increased numbers of Word Bearers within the Illium Rifts made it apparent that the Traitors were pushing their hunt for survivors ever further outwards, once again threatening the safety of the Legions sanctuary. Soon, Raven Guard sentinels spied enemy units guided by baying cyber-mastiffs approaching dangerously close to their sanctuary. Steps were taken to move the Legions wounded, as well as its meagre stores and limited command facilities ever deeper into the mighty chain of caverns deep beneath the rifts.

在伊斯特萬五號上，搜捕與抵抗的暗影游戲仍在進行，激烈艱苦的伏擊和逃亡也仍在繼續(xù)。出現(xiàn)在Illium裂谷中的懷言者人數(shù)不斷增加，這表明叛軍們正在前往更外側的區(qū)域尋找幸存者，這一情況再次威脅到了暗鴉守衛(wèi)軍團的安全。不久之后，暗鴉守衛(wèi)哨兵們就監(jiān)視到：在咆哮著的智控獒犬的引導下，叛軍單位危險地接近了他們的避難所。暗鴉守衛(wèi)們采取了措施，將軍團的傷員以及貧乏的儲備物資與有限的指揮設施轉移到了位于裂谷地下深處的巨大洞窟鏈中。

The further the Raven Guard pressed into the stygian darkness, the more apparent the alien nature of the tunnels became. At Length, the Raven Guard took refuge in a vast hall, its floor, walls and vaulted ceiling cast from some ultra-dense compound even the most learned of their Techmarines could not identify. The material itself appeared to have a deadening effect on a wide band of electromagnetic radiation. Furthermore, the construction seemed to be exerting an influence on the psionic level too, serving to nullify or shroud psychic effects. It cannot be determined if this contributed to the Traitors' inability to locate the Loyalists' refuge using technological or psionic means, but many claim it must have done so, for the Traitors scouring the lands above never discovered it using these methods, despite passing within metres of the entrances on several occasions.

隨著暗鴉守衛(wèi)們更深入了避難所幽冥般黑暗的地下空間，這些隧道的怪異特性也就變得愈發(fā)明顯。暗鴉守衛(wèi)們最終在一座巨大的廊廳中建立了庇護所，此處的地板、墻壁和拱形天花板都是由一些超高密度的化合物鑄造而成，哪怕軍團中最為博學的技術軍士也無法辨識其材質。這種材料本身似乎對寬頻帶的電磁輻射有抑制作用。另外，該構造體似乎也對靈能（強度）水平產生影響，以無效化或掩蓋靈能效果。我們無法確定這一現(xiàn)象是否導致叛軍無法使用技術和靈能手段找到忠誠派的避難所，但很多人聲稱情況必然是如此：叛軍們在上方的地面用技術和靈能手段進行搜索，卻從未找到過這間避難所；在很多次情況中，他們離入口僅有數(shù)米之遙。

One particular group was not searching using any subtle or esoteric method the alien-constructed refuge might be able to neutralise. The third armoured column of the Iron Warriors was forging eastwards, crushing all it encountered in its ceaseless hunt. The Traitors force was set on a course that would take it directly past a number of the hidden entrances to the refuge, and it was judged a certainty that the Iron Warriors might discover, by dogged search or blind chance, what their fellow Traitors had failed to locate by more subtle means.

不過，也有某支特定的部隊沒有使用任何巧妙和深奧的手段來尋找這間由異星人建造的避難所——這些手段都會被其無效化。第三支鋼鐵勇士裝甲縱隊正在向東挺進，粉碎了他們在這場無休止狩獵中遇到的一切。叛軍部隊所設定的路線直接穿過避難所的許多隱藏入口，人們斷定：通過堅持不懈的搜尋或盲目的偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)，鋼鐵勇士們可能發(fā)現(xiàn)了他們的叛軍同伙們用更巧妙的手段未能找到的某些線索。

Faced with the likelihood of imminent discovery, the Raven Lord mustered all available warriors and moved silently, but rapidly out into the wastes. The Iron Warriors column consisted of dozens of vehicles of numerous classes, the hulls of its Rhinos, Land Raiders and Predators bristling now with iron spikes, atop which were mounted the grisly trophies of the Traitors'?hunt.

面對著即將暴露的可能性，暗鴉之主集結起了所有可用的戰(zhàn)士，無聲但卻迅速地移動進入了廢土荒原。鋼鐵勇士裝甲縱隊包含諸多型號的數(shù)十輛載具，他們的犀牛運輸車、蘭德掠奪者和掠食者坦克的車體上都被豎起了鐵刺，其上鉤掛著叛軍們獵捕到的可怕戰(zhàn)利品。

The Raven Guard committed every available warrior to the assault, sweeping in upon the Traitors with hatred welling in their hearts.The Iron Warriors responded with the implacable ferocity for which they were so well known and the combat devolved into a bitter, gruelling contest from which only one side could emerge. While the Iron Warriors fell back upon ingrained doctrines, the Raven Guard appear to have fallen victim to a lessening in their own, well-known precision and discipline. Some even claim that, in the corpse-choked ravines of Isstvan V, with the sons of Perturabo closing upon their final redoubt, the Raven Guard reverted to a form of war that pre-dated the coming of their Primarch. For a brief moment, it was as if the XIXth Legion of old was resurgent, its long- suppressed bloody-handedness wresting control of its descendents at what might well have proved the moment of their extinction.

暗鴉守衛(wèi)軍團派出了所有可用的戰(zhàn)士去參加這場次進攻，他們帶著滿腔的仇恨沖向了叛軍。鋼鐵勇士們則以他們所著稱的無情兇惡加以回應，這場戰(zhàn)斗變成了一場痛苦艱難的比賽，而且只有一方能夠勝出。在鋼鐵勇士們回歸到自己根深蒂固的信條的同時，暗鴉守衛(wèi)們則似乎成為了自己眾所周知的嚴謹性與紀律性的受害者。某些人甚至聲稱：在伊斯特萬五號地表堆滿尸體的溝壑峽谷中，當佩圖拉博的子嗣們逼近他們最后的堡壘時，暗鴉守衛(wèi)們又回到了與原體重逢之前的戰(zhàn)爭模式中。在那短暫的一刻，古老的第十九軍團似乎復活了；在第十九軍團或許會遭到滅絕的哪一時刻，蒼白游牧人們長期遭到壓制的血腥慣用手段再次控制住了他們的后裔——暗鴉守衛(wèi)。

But that dark fate was not to be, Lord Corax spurning his warriors at the height of the battle and forging his own path through the carnage, as he is held to have done at times during the bloody years of the Lycaean Uprising. Even as his sons fought on, mired in the blood of friend and foe alike, the Raven Lord plunged into the cauldron of war alone, his black armoured form transformed into a penumbral phantom as his single lightning claw lashed out in great, thirsty sweeps. Fuelled by the power imbued within his every cell by the genius of the Emperor, the Primarch of the Raven Guard was an arc of black lightning grounding itself in the iron-clad bodies of the Traitors, his movements rendered perceivable only by the spray of atomised blood that cast the poisoned air crimson. No being save another Primarch could hope to stand against such a force. The third and final portion of the Iron Warriors Legion left behind to scour Isstvan V of Loyalists was utterly destroyed, and while others of their kin remained in the Urgall Hills manning their fortifications, as a coherent force of aggression the sons of Perturabo were spent.

但這種黑暗的命運并沒有發(fā)生，科拉克斯在戰(zhàn)斗最激烈的時候離開了他的戰(zhàn)士，并從大屠殺中闖了出去，就像他在Lycaean起義的血腥年代中所做的那樣。就在他的子嗣繼續(xù)戰(zhàn)斗，掙扎于朋友和敵人的鮮血中時，暗鴉之主獨自沖進了這場激戰(zhàn)，他身穿黑色動力甲的身形化作一團半影黑色的幻影，同時猛烈且嗜血地揮動著自己僅剩的一只閃電爪。在帝皇動用自己的才能為其每一個細胞所注入的力量的驅動下，暗鴉守衛(wèi)軍團的原體成為了一道黑色的閃電弧光，碾碎了叛軍們包覆著鐵甲的軀體。他的動作快到只能通過叛軍們噴濺而的鮮血來被感知，鋼鐵勇士們的血霧把有毒的空氣染成了深紅色。除了另一位原體之外，任何人都無望對抗此等力量。鋼鐵勇士軍團留下負責肅清伊斯特萬五號的第三支也是最后一支部隊被徹底摧毀了。留在Urgall山丘間的其他叛軍在守衛(wèi)著防御工事，而作為一支持續(xù)進攻部隊的佩圖拉博子嗣們已經被消耗掉了。

In the aftermath of the destruction of the third armoured column, the Raven Guard returned to their sanctuary in silence, none willing to speak of the atavism that had risen unbidden within each. Even as the Raven Guard marched wearily back towards their sanctuary, the harrowing-horns of the Traitor Mechanicum's blind-hunters echoed out across the cracked wastes, and black storm clouds gathered in the grey skies overhead. At the last, the clouds broke and black- tainted rain fell upon the blood-crusted surface of Isstvan V

在摧毀第三支鋼鐵勇士裝甲縱隊之后，暗鴉守衛(wèi)們悄無聲息地返回了自己的避難所。沒人愿意談論在自己體內自發(fā)出現(xiàn)的返祖現(xiàn)象。哪怕是在暗鴉守衛(wèi)們疲憊地走向自己的避難所時，機械神教叛軍所部署的盲眼獵手自動機兵的刺耳號角聲也還回蕩在破碎的廢土荒原上。黑色的風暴云在他們頭頂灰色的天空中匯聚；最終，云層破開，黑污的大雨傾盆而下，落在伊斯特萬五號糊著一層血殼的地表上。

The Raven Lord Alone

暗鴉之主的獨行

The black rains lashing the wastes enforced a temporary cessation in hostilities, the Traitors pulling back from their grim hunt and the Raven Guard taking the opportunity to consolidate in their sanctuary. For several days, the Legion's officers reconstituted and reorganised while the apothecaries tended to wounds long neglected in the midst of constant war. At the height of the rains, Lord Corax once again took his leave of his sons, heading out alone into the rain-blasted gullies without a word of explanation. Those Legionaries who knew their Primarch of old counselled the others to fret not, for it was well within the Raven Lord's demeanour to act alone in such circumstances, utilising his unique Emperor-gifted abilities to pass unseen where few others could.

黑雨猛烈沖刷著廢土荒原，迫使雙方暫時停止了敵對行動。叛軍們從殘酷的追捕行動中撤回，暗鴉守衛(wèi)抓住機會在他們的避難所中進行鞏固（修整）。一連數(shù)天，軍團的軍官們都在進行部隊恢復和重整，同時藥劑師們在治療那些在不斷的戰(zhàn)爭中被人們長期忽視的傷兵們。在大雨最為猛烈時，克拉克斯再次離開了他的子嗣們，他獨自走入了被雨水沖刷著的溝壑峽谷，沒有解釋自己的動機。那些早就知曉（認識）原體的軍團戰(zhàn)士們勸慰著其他兄弟，讓他們不必感到急躁不安。因為在這種情況下，暗鴉之主獨自行動是理所當然的，他會利用帝皇賜給自己的獨特能力，在幾乎無人能到達地方通過而不被看到。

History does not record where the dark-eyed Primarch walked, nor what grim sights he bore witness to during the day and night he went alone across the wastes. Fragmentary accounts compiled much later based on his conversations with the Primarch Rogal Dorn hint that Corax penetrated deep into Traitor-held territory, perhaps even treading the corpse-carpeted Urgall Depression itself. When at last the Primarch returned, he convened a council of his most trusted senior commanders and while the words that passed between them go unrecorded, the Primarch's intent remains unequivocal. The Raven Guard must survive, he ordained. Not simply to preserve the Imperiums might, although that must surely have been a consideration. Rather, while but a single Raven Guard continued to fight, no Traitor could rest without fear that justice would be visited upon him.

在那獨自穿越廢土荒原的日夜中，這位雙眼漆黑的原體走過了哪些地方，目睹了哪些殘酷的景象，歷史并未記錄下來。很久之后，基于他和原體羅格 多恩之間的交談（內容），我們編匯出一些零碎的敘述材料，這些內容暗示：克拉克斯深入到了叛軍控制的區(qū)域，他甚至或許都踏足了尸骸遍地的Urgall洼地。當原體最終返回時，他召集自己最信任的高級指揮官們進行了一次會議，雖然他們之間的交談內容也并未被記錄，但原體的意圖仍然很明確。他規(guī)定到：暗鴉守衛(wèi)必須存活下去。這么做不僅僅是為了保存帝國的力量——盡管這肯定是考慮之一，更重要的是：只要還有一名暗鴉守衛(wèi)軍團戰(zhàn)士仍在戰(zhàn)斗，所有叛徒便都要擔心自己會遭到審判。