來源：http://tinyurl.com/q3zmyu2
說是出包了所以故事還沒放上去的樣子
Invocation
祝禱
The sword-wife stood amid the burnt out ruin of her home. Everything and
everyone that mattered to her was gone, and she was filled with fathomless
grief... and hate. Hate was now all that compelled her.
女劍士佇立在她只剩灰燼殘骸的家中。對她來說曾有過意義的任何事、任何人都已
不復存在，她心中充滿了深深的悲傷……和憎恨。現在就剩憎恨在趨使她前進了。
She saw again the smile on his face as he gave the order. He was meant to be
their protector, but he’d spat upon his vows. Hers was not the only family
shattered by the oath-breaker.
她又看見了他發號施令時臉上的微笑。他本應是她們的守護者，卻唾棄了自己的誓
約。她的家庭並非唯一遭受背約者支離破碎的受害者。
The desire to go after him was strong. She wanted nothing more than to plant
her sword in his chest and watch the life drain from his eyes... but she knew
she would never be able to get close enough to him. He was guarded day and
night, and she was but one warrior. She would never be able to fight her way
through his battalion alone. Such a death would serve no purpose.
想追殺他的欲望強烈無比。她最渴望的便是將她的劍刺入他的胸口，然後看著生命
在他的眼中漸漸消逝……但她明白她永遠不可能接近他的。他被不分日夜地保護著，而
她只是單單一個戰士。她永遠不可能在他的軍營中殺出一條血路。那樣死去毫無意義。
She took a shuddering breath, knowing there was no coming back.
她顫抖著吸了一口氣，明白不會有回頭路。
A crude effigy of a man, formed of sticks and twine, lay upon a
fire-blackened dresser. Its body was wrapped in a scrap of cloth torn from
the cloak of the betrayer. She'd pried it from her husband's dead grasp.
Alongside it was a hammer and three rusted nails.
一具燒黑的衣櫃上躺著一只以樹枝和麻線製成的簡陋人偶。它的身體包覆著一片從
背約者斗篷上撕下來的布料。那是從她死去丈夫的拳頭中拔出來的。在它一旁還有把鐵
錘和三枚生鏽的釘子。
She gathered everything up and moved to the threshold. The door itself was
gone, smashed to splinters in the attack. Beyond, lit by moonlight, lay the
empty, darkened fields.
她收起它們並走向門口。門不見了，在攻擊時就被打碎了。在門檻外，月光照亮空
蕩的漆黑原野。
Reaching up, the sword-wife pressed the stick-effigy to the hardwood lintel.
女劍士抬起手，將人偶壓在硬木門框上。
"I invoke thee, Lady of Vengeance," she said, her voice low, trembling with
the depth of her fury. "From beyond the veil, hear my plea. Come forth. Let
justice be done."
「我呼喚祢，復仇之女，」她的聲音低沉，因無比憤怒而顫抖，「在亡者之境，傾
聽我的祈求。前來吧，讓正義伸張。」
She readied her hammer and the first of the nails.
她拿起鐵槌和第一枚釘子。
"I name my betrayer once," she said, and spoke his name aloud. As she did so,
she placed the tip of the first nail to the chest of the stick-figure. With a
single strike, she hammered it in deep, pinning it to the hardwood door frame.
「訴以背叛我人之名。」她說，並大聲講出他的名字。同時，她把第一枚釘子的尖
端放上人偶的胸口。她一下就把它深深錘入，釘在硬木門框上。
The sword-wife shivered. The room had become markedly colder. Or had she
imagined it?
女劍士發抖。屋裡突然明顯地變冷了。還是只是她的錯覺？
"I name him twice," she said, and she did so, hammering the second nail
alongside the first.
「再訴以背叛我人之名。」她道，並再將第二枚釘子刺在前一枚的旁邊。
Her gaze dropped, and she jolted in shock. A dark figure stood out in the
moonlit field, a hundred yards in the distance. It was utterly motionless.
Breathing quicker, the sword-wife returned her attention to the unfinished
task.
她低下頭，然後嚇得打顫。一道黑影站在月光下的原野，不過一百碼之外。它完全
沒有任何動靜。女劍士急促地呼吸，將注意力轉回未完成的工作上。
"I name him thrice," she said, speaking again the name of the murderer of her
husband and children, before hammering home the final nail.
「三訴以背叛我人之名。」她講完，又說出謀殺了她丈夫和孩子的人的名字，再把
最後一枚釘子深深錘入。
An ancient spirit of vengeance stood before her, filling the doorway, and the
sword-wife staggered back, gasping involuntarily.
一位上古的復仇之靈站在她面前，填滿了門口。女劍士踉踉蹌蹌地後退，不禁倒抽
了一口氣。
The otherworldly being was clad in archaic armor, her flesh translucent and
glowing with spectral un-light. Black Mist coiled around her like a living
shroud.
來自他世的存在包覆著古老的鎧甲，她的身體透明，發出幽靈般的無光。黑霧在她
身邊纏繞，宛如一件活生生的壽衣。
With a squeal of tortured metal, the spectral figure drew forth the blackened
spear protruding from her breastplate — the ancient weapon that had ended
her life.
幽靈將她胸甲前突出的黑矛──曾經終結她生命的武器──拔出來，發出尖銳的金
屬聲響。
She threw it to the ground before the sword-wife. No words were spoken; there
was no need. The sword-wife knew what was being offered to her — vengeance —
and knew its terrible cost: her soul.
她將它丟在女劍士面前。沒有言語，亦不需言語。女劍士明白在她面前的是什麼──
復仇──，也明白其可怕的代價：她的靈魂。
The spirit watched on, her face impassive and her eyes burning with an
unrelenting cold fury, as the sword-wife picked up the treacherous weapon.
聖靈繼續看著，神情冷漠，雙眼熊燃著無情而冰冷的怒火，而女劍士撿起了那危險的
武器。
* 註：treacherous 同時可做「背信棄義的」之意
"I pledge myself to vengeance," said the sword-wife, her voice quivering. She
reversed the spear, aiming the tip inward, towards her heart. "I pledge it
with my blood. I pledge it with my soul."
「我將自身許予復仇，」女劍士說，聲音顫抖。她反轉過矛，將矛頭指向自己，指向
自己的心臟，「以我的鮮血相許。以我的靈魂相許。」
She paused. Her husband would have pleaded for her to turn away from this
path. He would have begged her not to condemn her soul with this course of
action. A moment of doubt gnawed at her. The undying specter watched on.
她停下來。她的丈夫會希望她回頭的。他會乞求她不要如此折磨自己的靈魂。一瞬的
疑惑折磨著她。不死的幽魂依然觀望。
The sword-wife's eyes narrowed as she thought of her husband lying dead, cut
down by swords and axes. She thought again of her children, sprawled upon the
ground, and her resolve hardened like a cold stone in her heart. Her grip
tightened upon the spear.
女劍士想起死於刀劍與斧頭之下的丈夫，雙眼瞇起。她又想起橫屍於地的孩子，她的
決心如冰冷的岩石般堅定起來。她的雙拳緊握矛身。
"Help me," she implored, her decision made. "Please, help me kill him."
「幫我，」她哀求，決定已成，「請幫我殺了他。」
She rammed the spear into her chest, driving it in deep.
她將矛猛然刺進胸口，更往深處插入。
The sword-wife's eyes widened and she dropped to her knees. She tried to
speak, but only blood bubbled from her lips.
女劍士雙眼圓睜，雙膝跪下。她試著說話，但口中吐出的只有鮮血。
The ghostly apparition watched her die, her expression impassive.
幽靈看著她死去，神情冷漠。
As the last of the lifeblood ran from her body, the shade of the sword-wife
climbed to her feet. She looked down at her insubstantial hands in wonder,
then at her own corpse lying dead-eyed in a growing pool of blood upon the
floor. The shade’s expression hardened, and a ghostly sword appeared in her
hand.
當最後一滴鮮血自她身體流盡，女劍士的影子爬起了身。她不明所以地望著自己的
透明雙手，然後看見地上，自己的屍體雙眼無神地倒在泊泊依然的血池中。影子的表情
變得堅定，一把幻影之劍出現在她的手中。
An ethereal tether, little more than a wisp of light, linked the newly formed
shade to the avenging spirit she had summoned. Through their bond, the
sword-wife saw her differently, glimpsing the noble warrior she had been in
life: tall and proud, her armor gleaming. Her posture was confident, yet
without arrogance; a born leader, a born soldier. This was a commander that
the sword-wife would have willingly bled for.
一道比絲縷光線更細微的空靈鎖鏈將這道新生的影子和她所召喚出的復仇聖靈相連
起來。透過她們之間的連結，女劍士看見了不同的她，生前曾是一位崇尊的戰士──高
大而自豪，鎧甲爍爍發光。她姿態自信，卻不顯傲慢；一位天生的領導者，一位天生的
士兵。她會是位女劍士願意為其灑熱血的指揮官。
Behind the spirit's anger, she sensed her empathy — recognition of their
shared pain of betrayal.
在靈魂的憤怒深處，她注意到了她的同情──對她們由於背叛而生的共有痛苦的承
認。
"Your cause is our cause," said Kalista, the Spear of Vengeance. Her voice
was grave cold. "We walk the path of vengeance as one, now."
「妳的願望就是我們的願望。」「復仇之矛」克黎思妲說。她的聲音冰冷至極。「
現在，我們一同踏上復仇之路。」
The sword-wife nodded.
女劍士點頭。
With that, the avenging spirit and the shade of the sword-wife stepped into
the darkness and were gone.
於是，復仇聖靈和女劍士的影子踏入黑暗，再無蹤影。