【战锤40k同人作品翻译】Ennui 第十八章：交互——进入战场 Interact - Into War
本章概述：
一个伊比里斯方舟世界的见习先知与家人争论。
In which a novice Seer of Craftworld Iybraesil argues with family.
正文：
虽然看着这片丘陵的人意识不到这点，但安菲特里亚北部和东部的平原却是片热闹的地方。
在过去的三十个太阳周期中，隐藏在普瑞莱克斯五号地表下的网道大门一直在像一只受到刺激的眼睛一样开开合合，时不时地吐出一批伊比里斯的灵族，一个大本营逐渐被建立了起来。
“我们要在这里待多久，梅内萨？”提问者的声音夹杂着烦躁和紧张，我叹了口气，这已经不是第一次了。
“我不知道，”我回答道。
又一次。
“我只知晓我所见的事物，”我指了指那座燃烧着的Mon-Keigh巢都。“在那一堆死金属和石块下的某处有一个严重的威胁。”
回应我的是另一声恼火的嘟哝。
瑞亚和我并没有相处得多么融洽，尽管身为姐妹。她在被召唤至狂嚎女妖的战士神殿之前已经走过了不止十几条道途，而鉴于她的秉性没人会感到多么奇怪。我知道母亲曾期望她的长女能跟随她走上塑造之道，但战士神殿的召唤是件荣耀之事，尤其是在伊比里斯。
自从我和带领着一队狂嚎女妖的瑞亚来到这迷雾重重的世界，为我们的前进营地做准备起，气氛就一直很紧张。
她并不信任我，所有人都是。我还年轻，缺乏经验，以及——哦对了——我刚刚才炸飞过一座塔。
所有的这一切最终导致了瑞亚在我的小工位里站在我面前，与此同时我盯着自己的符石，思索着要不要再一次寻找那个“巧合”并且冒着炸飞营地的风险。
我的姐姐十分美丽，就像所有的狂嚎女妖一样，一头墨黑色的发丝勾勒出一张苍白得如灵骨般的面孔。她有着身为战士的修长、紧致的身型，她的身体几乎要在被压制的暴力下嗡嗡作响起来，而我在这里看着她，想到她或许会在某一天戴上自己的战争面具，并永远也不会再摘下来。
“你确定你看到了什么东西？”她问道。
又一次。
“是的，我的姐姐，”我尖刻地回答道。“这都第十次了，我绝对确信。难道你真的认为如果我没有的话，欧瑞瓦先知会向战队提请行动吗？”
“我认为欧瑞瓦先知太过纵容你了，”瑞亚回答道，我感觉嘴唇向下扭曲了下来。
我猛地在自己的姐姐面前起身，并把一根手指戳到了她的脸上。
“随你怎么说我，瑞亚，先祖们知道你从来都不介意这么干，”我咆哮道，令她后退了一步。“但你不得诋毁欧瑞瓦大师，他比我们中的所有人看得都要远，你很清楚这一点！”
“我——！”
“还有，”我继续说道，向着她前进，“无论你是否因我是你的血亲而尊重我，我都已经被授权负责这次远行，所以你必须尊我为上级，我说清楚没有？！”
瑞亚苍白的眼睛在惊讶中瞪大几秒。我能看到怒火在她眼底燃烧，并几乎能听到在周围积聚的灵能压力的嗡嗡声。然后又随着她的一声叹息而逐渐退去，瑞亚低下了头，小声地道歉。
我叹了口气，揉了揉太阳穴。头痛愈发严重了，可我无法解释它的来源。
“这里有危险，瑞亚，”我平静地开口。“甚至连我或欧瑞瓦大师都无法预见到，即便有符文石也是如此。”
“不过是些兽人和Mon-Keigh，”瑞亚冷冰冰地说，“我并不过分担心。”
“我说的不是它们，”我回答道，轻蔑地挥挥手，然后坐回了我的符文石前。“你知道占卜（augury）是什么吗？”
“对即将到来的危险的预见的简单操作，”瑞亚耸了耸肩回答说。“每当我们松懈时都会为我们表演上一次。”
“你知道这个是怎么回事吗？”我问道，她挑了挑眉。“我会告诉你，长老们准许这次任务的原因的一大半都出自于此。”
“我……我不知道，”瑞亚承认道，我指示她坐到我的对面。
“看好了。”
随着我的姐姐就座，我集齐符文石，用我被教授的方法专注于它们，遵循着内心对仪式流程的记忆，引导我进入了激活占卜符文的合适心境。
灵能在我们身边噼啪作响，我把符文石捧在手中，将之高高举起，并在同一个动作中将它们抛下，同时释放了被压抑的灵能压力。
石块咣当一声掉在灵骨地板上，其中一半嘎嘎作响着停了下来。
其他的以尖端落地，现在正像狂乱的重力场中的罗盘一样在原地高速旋转。
我越过旋转的石块紧盯着瑞亚。
“以防你意识不到，”我指着仍然躁动着的石头，“它们通常不会这样做。”
她张开嘴，我抢先举起一只手。
“以及是的，我做得准确无误，”我回答了她还没问出口的问题。“欧瑞瓦大师这么做的时候也是这个结果，以及卡兰瑟斯先知，还有伊玛先知。”
瑞亚盯着符文石沉默良久。它们继续旋转着，发出了像赌盘上粗糙的指节骨一样的声音。我的姐姐看着它们，直到最后抬起头来严肃地看着我。
“这可能意味着什么？”
我又叹了口气。
“意味着即便命运本身也说不准城市里有什么危险，”我伸手指向那座巢都。
“这些石头？”我指向平躺在地面上的那些，“显然表明了来自兽人的危险，还有来自Mon-Keigh的，而我们已经知道这个了。”
“那这些呢？”她指向我略过的那几个。
“坏天气，”我回答道，“再过十个周期左右天气会发生变化，在这座巢都里浇上半片海洋那么多的水。”
“进城的好掩护，”瑞亚强调说，我微微一笑，点了点头。
“那就是我的意图。”
瑞亚缓缓地点头，她的目光聚焦到了旋转着的符文石上。
“它到底……有多坏？”她终于发问。
我摇了摇头，把符文石从地上扫去，止住了永不停息的扰动。
“无从得知，”我回复道。“它可能什么也不是，也可能扭转未来的潮流，”我把符文石收进口袋里，靠在手肘上盯着灵骨天花板的漩涡图案。“它完全超脱于命运……任何灵族先知或混沌巫师都未曾阐明过这种巧合，即便筑命者（Architect of Fate）也没有为其编织出结局。”
“那么，这是命运中的异常？”瑞亚提问道，我点点头。“那我们知道这是什么吗？
我一直盯着在灵能活性塑料中回荡着的层层螺线和鬼魅回响。到底是什么？我为此揣摩了许久，几次向欧瑞瓦提出了我的看法，但到头来，这一切也都是假象和猜测。
“我的直觉告诉我它是个活物，”我轻声说道，费力地牵扯起直觉的脉络。“我没有证据来证明这点，也不觉得会有。但如果一定要猜猜看的话？人类吧。”
“为什么？”瑞亚头一次听起来不像在指责，我来回摇晃了几下以正对她的眼睛。“为什么是人类？为什么不是另一个灵族？”
“因为我们每一个灵族的灵魂都被计算在内，”我指着我们的魂石。“哪怕是我们的黑暗灵族表亲，巨蛇也知晓他们每一个人的灵魂的滋味。”
“那么兽人呢？”瑞亚提问道。“兽人都是难以预测，混乱——”
“完全不是，”我又一次指向那座城市。“兽人被单一的强烈需求所驱使，那种需求被编入了它们的整个野蛮种族们的血肉和灵魂中。它们不会质疑这一点，它们都会跟从Waaagh的召唤所到之处。”我回想起在欧瑞瓦的档案中研究的一些更大规模的入侵的地图，并不寒而栗。“它们如风暴般移动，破坏性很强，但终究是可预测的。”
“那Mon-Keigh？但他们是那么的……”瑞亚抿起嘴唇试着找出那个词，“弱小。”
我放声大笑，引得她怒容满面。
“弱小？”我愤恨地问道。“看看我们周围，姐姐……看看人类都在哪里安过家！冰雪世界，死寂卫星，被亚空间污秽烧灼的世界，而且他们不止是存活了下来，还发展壮大了！”我难以置信地摇头。“这些弱不禁风，吹弹可破的生物，几无远见，更无力量，全凭着能击败最残暴的兽人的坚持和决心就已经打遍了整个银河。”
“你听起来几乎像是在欣赏他们似的，”瑞亚说到，她的嗓音带上了更惯用的指责的语气。“他们是次等生物。”
“那么我们正在被次等生物击败，”我厉声说，瑞亚便因恼怒而涨红了脸。“看看周围，瑞亚，我们的人民正在消亡，我们的文明也是如此！我们几乎没能坚持下去，每过一个世纪，我们就有更多人消逝！”
“所以你会放弃我们的人民是吗？”瑞亚怒吼道，“你难道会让我们躺平等死吗？”
“不，”我伸手安抚她。“但我们不能冒险不重视人类所呈现的危险，正如我们的诸多同族似乎在做的那样，”我皱起眉头，把手放到了装着符文石的箱子上，“即便是欧瑞瓦大师也轻视他们，而在这件事上我确信他是错的。”
“为什么？”瑞亚的声音听起来几乎像是乞求。“以凯恩的血手之名，妹妹，为什么？”
“因为灵族想要生存……兽人想要战斗……”我一一列举，随后笑了出来。“可人类？”我摇了摇头，笑声提高了些。“我仍然不知道人类到底想要什么。”
我曾见过人类出于纯粹的怨恨和我暂时只能称之为“进取心”的东西将自己投入混沌尖啸的巨口中。我曾见过他们啐在教士和恶魔们的脸上，然后不知何故地占据了上风。我曾见过他们面带微笑地输掉战斗，死在了他们为了不拱手让人而焚毁的世界上。
“在我看来，”我平静地说，“在这日渐衰退的后期，只有人类会做出如此不合逻辑，以至于能不止一次而是两次阻塞了命运的举动。”
沉默降临在我们身上，瑞亚低下了头，在我认识她这么久以来头一次看上去平静而若有所思。愤怒的张力不常离开她的脸，可现在，我能看到那个已经被暴力和死亡埋葬了如此之久的，我曾经熟识的姐姐。
我发觉自己是多么的想念她。
“你能确定吗？”瑞亚问道。
“完全没有，”我弱弱地笑着回答。“我是个新手……几乎称不上训练有素，可欧瑞瓦大师总是说我有着优秀的直觉，他告诉我那是能最终成为伟大先知的原因。”
瑞亚对此点了点头，然后她抬起眼眸与我四目相对。我已经很久没有凝视过那双与我们的陨落的父亲如此相像的深海般的眼睛了。我知道她为什么恨人类，恨Mon-Keigh ……很少有灵族不认识另一个被人类“帝国”的重锤和他们仇外的狂热者所埋葬的灵族。我们的父亲也是其中之一，是其他的成千上万中的一员…….最终，他的魂石甚至都没能回到伊比里斯的无限回路里。
十之八九，它已经被一个人类士兵的鞋跟碾碎了。
然而，不像我的姐姐，我无法憎恨人类。
也许是因为我同情他们吧。
只需瞥一眼红月之眼的怒放——人类称之为恐惧之眼——就能记住我族对银河所做过的一切。没有一支已知的种族没有权利因我族的所作所为而憎恨我们。
事实上，因为这个，我族称得上罪无可恕。
“那我们什么时候动身？”瑞亚问道，打断了我的遐想。
我收拢起四散的想法迎上她的目光。“这个世界的十二个太阳周期后，到那时降雨会接近最强的时候，我们会有最好的掩护。”
“然后我们就去狩猎，”瑞亚的表情紧绷成一个掠食者的冷酷微笑，我用自己的一个疲惫些的表情与之相对。
“对，”我赞同道，“我们也要看看一个巧合到底能有多危险。”
原文：
Though no one looking at the hills would know it, the stretch of terrain north and east of Amphitria was a hive of activity.
For the past thirty solar cycles the webway portal secreted away beneath the surface of Praelex V had been opening and closing like an irritated eye, disgorging small numbers of Iybraesil Aeldarii at a time, and slowly a base camp had been established.
“How long will we be here, Menesa?” The questioner’s voice was irritated and tight and, not for the first time, I sighed.
“I don’t know,” I replied.
Again.
“I only know what I saw,” I gestured out toward the burning Mon-Keigh Hive City. “Somewhere in that mass of dead metal and stone is a grave threat.”
The response was another annoyed grunt.
Rhea and I had never precisely gotten along, despite being sisters. She had walked better than a dozen paths before being called to the Shrine of the Howling Banshee, and with her temper no one had been particularly surprised. I know mother had been hoping her eldest would follow her Path of Shaping, but the Shrine call was an honorable one, especially in Iybraesil.
Ever since I had arrived on this miserable world, Rhea in tow with a unit of banshees to begin preparations for our forward camp, things had been tense.
She didn’t trust me, no one did. I was young, inexperienced, and, oh yes, I’d just blown up a tower.
All of that culminated in Rhea standing before me in my small workspace as I sat staring down at my runestones, wondering if I should give searching for the ‘coincidence’ another go and risk blowing up the camp too.
My sister was beautiful, like all Banshees, with a cascade of Ink-black hair framing a face as pale as wraithbone. She had the long, taut build of a warrior, her body practically hummed with restrained violence, and I had a notion, seeing her here, that Rhea might one day put on her war mask and never take it off.
“You’re certain you saw something?” She asked.
Again.
“Yes, sister mine,” I replied acidly. “For the tenth time, I am absolutely sure. Do you really think Farseer Oreval would have pressed for a movement of the warhost if I hadn’t?”
“I think Farseer Oreval is far too indulgent of you,” Rhea responded, and I felt my lip twist downward.
I stood sharply up in front of my sister and jabbed a finger up into her face.
“Say what you want about me, Rhea, Ancestors know you’ve never had an issue with that,” I snarled, setting her back a step. “But don’t you daredisparage Master Oreval, he sees further than any of us, Rhea, and you know it!”
“I-!”
“And furthermore,” I continued, advancing on her, “whether you respect me as your blood or not, I was placed in charge of this excursion so you willrespect that I am your superior, is that clear?!”
Rhea’s pale eyes were wide with surprise for several seconds. I could see the fury burning behind her eyes, and practically taste the buzz of psychic pressure building around. Then it faded as she let out a quiet breath, dipped her head, and muttered an apology.
I sighed, rubbing at my temples as I did. The headache was getting worse, and I couldn’t account for it’s source.
“There is danger here, Rhea,” I started quietly. “More than I or Master Oreval can even begin to see, even with the runes.”
“They are Orks and Mon-Keigh,” Rhea said dryly. “I am not overly worried.”
“I’m not talking about them,” I replied, waving my hand dismissively and moving back to my runes to sit before them. “Do you know what an augury is?”
“A simple working of the Sight for coming dangers,” Rhea answered with a shrug. “One is performed for us each time we are loosed.”
“Do you know what happened with this one?” I asked, and she raised an eyebrow. “I’ll tell you that it’s better than half the reason the Elders agreed to this mission.”
“I… I do not,” Rhea admitted, and I gestured for her to sit across from me.
“Watch.”
As my sister sat down, I gathered the runes, focusing on them the way I had been taught, following the ritual path of mental mnemonics to lead me into the proper mental state to tap the augur runes.
Psychic energy crackled around us as I cupped the stones in my hand, raised them high, then in a single motion dropped them and, at the same time, released the pent up psychic pressure.
The stones clattered to the wraithbone floor and half of them rattled to a stop.
The others had struck the ground on their tips and were now spinning rapidly in place like a compass in a wild gravity field.
I stared at Rhea flatly over the spinning stones.
“In case you’re unaware,” I gestured to the still-rattling stones, “they don’t usually do that.”
She opened her mouth and I held up a forestalling hand.
“And yes, I did it correctly,” I answered her question before it could come out. “It’s the same thing that happened when Master Oreval did it, and when Farseer Kalanthes did it, and when Farseer Yma did it.”
Rhea was silent for a long while as she stared at the stones. They continued to spin, making a sound like crude knucklebones on a gambling board as my sister watched them until finally, she looked up at me with a sober expression.
“What could it possibly mean?”
I sighed again.
“That even fate cannot say what dangers lay in that city,” I gestured out towards the Hive. “These stones?” I gestured to the ones laying flat on the ground, “indicate danger from Orks, obviously, and the Mon-Kiegh, which we knew.”
“And these?” She pointed to a few I’d passed over.
“Bad weather,” I replied, “in another ten cycles or so the weather will turn and dump half an ocean on the Hive.”
“Good cover to enter the city from,” Rhea remarked, and I smiled faintly before nodding.
“That was my intention.”
Rhea nodded slowly, her eyes still fixated on the spinning runestones.
“How… how bad is it?” She finally asked.
I shook my head and swept the runestones up from the ground, silencing the endless rattling.
“There’s no way to know,” I replied. “It could be nothing, or it could turn the tide of the future,” I pocketed the runes and leaned back on my elbows to stare up at the swirling patterns of the wraithbone ceiling. “It’s total freedom from fate… this coincidence hasn’t been accounted for by any Aeldari Farseer or Chaos Witch, not even the Architect of Fate has woven an outcome for this.”
“It’s an anomaly of fate, then,” Rhea offered, and I nodded. “Do we know what it is yet?”
I kept staring at the whorls and ghostly echoes of power rippling through the psychoactive plastic material. What indeed? I’d given it a great deal of thought, posed my ideas to Oreval multiple times, but in the end, it was all just supposition and guesswork.
“My instincts say it's a living being,” I spoke quietly, tugging on the fraying threads of my intuition. “I don’t have any proof of that, nor do I suspect that there is any, but if I were to hazard a guess? Human.”
“Why?” Rhea didn’t sound accusatory for once, and I rocked back forward so I was meeting her eyes. “Why human? Why not another Aeldari?”
“Because each and every one of our souls is accounted for,” I gestured to our Spirit Stones. “Even our Drukhari cousins, the Great Serpent knows the taste of each of their souls.”
“Then Orks?” Rhea posed. “Orks are unpredictable, chaotic-”
“Not at all,” I gestured out to the city again. “Orks are driven by a single mighty need, and that need is woven through the flesh and psyche of their entire brutish kind. They do not question it, they follow the siren call of their migratory Waaagh’s wherever they lead.” I recalled studying maps of some of the greater invasions in Oreval’s archives and shuddered. “They move like the path of a storm, destructive, but ultimately predictable.”
“The Mon-Keigh? But they’re so…” Rhea twisted her lip as she tried to find the word before settling on, “weak.”
I laughed openly, drawing a dark scowl from her.
“Weak?” I asked bitterly. “Look around us, sister… look where humans have made their homes! Ice worlds, dead satellites, worlds scorched by warptaint, and they not only live there they thrive!” I shook my head in disbelief. “These weak, fragile creatures, with little foresight and less power, have beaten and hammered the greater breadth of the galaxy into submission by sheer persistence and dogged determination that would beggar the surliest Ork.”
“You sound almost as if you admire them,” Rhea spoke, her voice now taking its more customary accusatory tone with me. “They are lesser beings.”
“Then we are being beaten by lesser beings,” I snapped, and Rhea’s face flushed with anger. “Look around us, Rhea, our people are dying, our civilisation is as good as! We’re barely clinging on, and more of us fade with every passing century!”
“So you will just give up on our people?!” Rhea snarled, “you would have us just lay down and die?!”
“No,” I held out a placating hand. “But we cannot risk failing to respect the danger that humanity presents like so many of our kind seem to,” I grimaced, moving my hands down to my case of runestones, “even Master Oreval discounts them, and in this one instance I truly believe he is wrong.”
“Why?” Rhea’s voice was almost pleading. “By Khaine’s bloody hand, sister, why?”
“Because Aeldari want to live… and Orks want to fight…” I listed off, then laughed. “But humans?” I shook my head, my laughter rising. “I still have no idea what humans actually want.”
I had seen humans pitch themselves into the shrieking maw of Chaos out of sheer spite and something I could only tentatively call ‘gumption’. I’d seen them spit in the faces of Exarchs and Daemons alike, and then, somehow, win the day. I’d seen them lose battles with smiles on their faces as they died on a world they burned just so someone else couldn’t have it.
“In my mind,” I said evenly, “in this latter and fading era, only a human could make a decision so irrational that it would balk fate not once but twice.”
Silence descended on us as Rhea lowered her head, looking thoughtful and calm for the first time I could remember in a very long time. It was not often that the tension of anger left her face, but now I could see the sister I once knew so well beneath all the violence and death that had buried her for so long.
I found that I missed her very much.
“You’re certain?” Rhea asked.
“Not at all,” I replied with a weak laugh. “I’m a novice… barely trained, but Master Oreval always said I had good instincts, and he told me that was what made a great Farseer in the end.”
Rhea nodded at that, then raised her eyes to meet mine. It had been a long time since I’d stared into those sea-dark eyes, so much like our fallen father’s. I knew why she hated humans, the Mon-Keigh… it was rare to know an Aeldarii who did not know someone who had been buried under the hammer of the human ‘Imperium’ and their xenophobic zealots. Our father was one of them, one of thousands of others… not even his Spirit Stone made it back to Iybraesil’s Infinity Circuit in the end.
In all likelihood, it had been crushed under the bootheel of a human soldier.
And yet, unlike my sister, I could not hate the humans.
Perhaps because I pitied them.
One only had to glance at the furious bloom of the red moon’s eye, what the humans called the Eye of Terror, to remember what our kind had wrought upon the galaxy. There was no race in all the known systems that did not bear the right to hate our kind for what we had done.
Our kind was, in all truth, unforgivable in that regard.
“When do we move then?” Rhea asked, breaking me out of my reverie.
I collected my scattered thoughts and met her gaze. “Twelve cycles of this world’s sun, by then the downpour will be nearing its worst, and we will have the greatest cover.”
“And then we hunt,” Rhea’s face tensed into a cold, predatory smile, and I matched it a weary one of my own.
“Yes,” I agreed, “and we also discover just how dangerous a coincidence truly is.”
