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Encounter With Burrowing Death, PART1
From the writings of Abd al-Hazir
Entry No.004
遭遇掘洞的死神,第二部分
来自Abd al-Hazir的手稿
QUOTE: As I began to fall, Burroughs grabbed me by the scruff of my collar and shook me violently. "You really want to feed some thresher, don't you, al-Hazir?" he asked. "What, haven't you seen scavengers before?"
当我正要跌倒的时候,Burroughs抓住我的后颈衣领把我提了起来并且粗暴的晃动着."你真的很想去喂喂某条长尾鲛是么,al-Hazir?"他问道."什么?你以前没有见过食腐者?"
QUOTE: I had indeed seen scavengers: small, burrowing creatures that feed upon carrion. Unlike most animals of this type, however, they are extremely aggressive and will not hesitate to attack those unfortunate enough to encounter them. Scavengers have powerful legs which they use for swift springing attacks, striking at vulnerable faces and throats. Their anatomy bears a striking resemblance to that of the leapers of the Aranoch desert, and thus, many researchers classify the two groups as part of the same family of creatures. An ensorcelled (some say demonic) variant is known to have plagued adventurers in the Tristram region twenty-odd years ago as well. Scavengers were also the cause of an extremely distressing episode during my youth, which I need not relate at this juncture.
我以前其实见过食腐者:一种体型小,善于挖洞的生物,专吃尸体的腐肉.与大多数同样食腐的动物不同的是,它们非常具有攻击性,会毫不犹豫的攻击那些不幸遭遇到它们的人.食腐者拥有一对有力的腿,借此它们可以发动快速的跳跃攻击,目标直指毫无防备的脸和喉咙.它们的骨骼结构和Aranoch沙漠的跳跃者的骨骼结构有一个明显的相似点.而正是如此,许多研究者把这两个种群归为生物学上同一个科目的两个不同的分支.二十多年前,一个已知的令人迷惑的(有人说是受恶魔力量影响的)异变同样使崔斯特瑞姆地区的探险者受到了感染.而食腐者也是我童年时期一个令人痛苦的事件的起因.但在这样一个紧要关头,我就不需要再详述这个童年的痛苦回忆了.
QUOTE: "Yep. Burrowers to catch a burrower," he said. He then took the lengths of rope hanging from the cage and impaled them on the ground using a heavy pike. He also attached what looked like long knives to the sides of his heavy, scarred boots, and drove the blades into the ground.
"对.用会掘洞的怪物去抓同样会掘洞的怪物,"他说.然后他拉住从笼中垂吊出来的绳子,用一个沉重的矛头把绳头牢牢的钉在地上.同时他紧了紧绑在他那沉重,布满伤痕的靴子边上的长刀模样的刀子,之后用力把刀刃打入地面.
QUOTE: "You'd better get out of the way." And with that, while holding onto the ropes, he undid the latching mechanism on the side of the cage. He then threw it out onto the sand. The cage exploded outward with the scavengers' frantic attempts to escape their confines. I barely had time to wonder how Burroughs had been able to get the collars (that the ropes were attached to) around the scavengers' necks before the vicious beasts had burrowed into the soft ground.
"你最好别挡路."他抓着绳子说,同时打开了笼子边上的闸门机关.之后他把笼子扔到了沙地上.笼子因为食腐者试图逃出笼子的疯狂挣扎而炸开了.我还来不及去想Burrough是怎么把项圈(那些绳子就绑在这些项圈上)套到食腐者的脖子上的,这些邪恶的野兽就已经掘进了柔软的地面.
QUOTE: I was extremely tense by this point. I felt naked and exposed. What insanity had convinced me that coming out here was a good idea?
这时我极度的紧张,我感到我完全赤身裸体,毫无防备.当初是不是我精神错乱了?我竟然会觉得出现在这里是一个好主意.
QUOTE: I looked out over the wastes in the fading light, trying to detect the telltale horned fins of the thresher cutting through the surface of the sand.
[/我望着昏暗月光下的荒野,试着寻找长尾鲛那块刺穿沙面的带刺的鳍.而这样的鳍预示着长尾鲛的到来.
QUOTE: With absolutely no warning, the dune thresher violently broke the surface, all three scavengers caught in his horrifying maw. There was a massive explosion of sand as the thresher dove back into the ground with its prize. The ropes immediately snapped taut, and I thought Burroughs would be pulled to his death. I didn't understand how he thought he could reel in a monster that huge, but he wasn't even trying ? just holding on.
没有任何的预兆沙丘长尾鲛粗暴的打碎了地面,3只食腐者都被它那骇人的大颚牢牢咬住.长尾鲛带着他的战利品重新潜入地面,激起了一场巨大的沙爆.所有的绳子瞬间被咬的紧紧绷直,我以为Burroughs会被活活拖下去死掉.我不明白他为何会认为自己可以拉起这么大的怪物,不过他甚至没有尝试往回拉,只是站在原地坚持着.
QUOTE: After several tense seconds that stretched towards eternity, the rope began making weird jerking motions.
这是令人紧张得难以呼吸的几秒种,这几秒钟仿佛就像人的一生那样漫长.这几秒钟过去之后,绳子不可思议的开始扭动起来.
QUOTE: "Ah. The little buggers are doing their work." He smiled a ghastly smile. "Shouldn't be long now."
"啊,小家伙们开始工作了."他露出恐怖的笑容."很快就会结束了."
QUOTE: A few more moments of this strangeness passed, and the thrashing of the ropes became less and less. Finally, he began to haul his catch in. When it was partially on the rocks, I could see what had happened. The thresher had swallowed the scavengers whole, and they, in turn, had begun eating their way out of the thresher's stomach before the beast's digestive juices had killed them. One scavenger still clung to life, but barely. It had actually dug itself halfway out of the thresher, clawing at the air as its skin was slowly eaten away. I vomited.
绳子诡异的扭动持续了一会儿,之后绳子的扭动变得越来越小.最后,他开始拉手中的绳子.当一长尾鲛身体的一部分被拉到岩石上之后,我终于能够明白刚才发生了什么.长尾鲛把食腐者活活吞了下去,之后,在被长尾鲛的消化液杀死之前,这些食腐者依次把长尾鲛的胃吃穿了,跑了出去.一只食腐者还依附在长尾鲛的活体中,不过就快出来了.它实际上正从长尾鲛体内往外挖,已经挖到半路了.长尾鲛的爪子痛苦的在空气中乱抓,它的皮肤正在被一点一点的吃掉.我呕吐了起来.
QUOTE: Burroughs, laughing at me once again as he cut off the beast's triangular head, began lecturing me on the amazing dune thresher: the dynamics of its jutting, angular lower jaw, which cuts a path through the soil; the way this jaw design enables the thresher to swim effortlessly beneath the sand with unimaginable swiftness; and much more that I didn't care to hear just then. I nodded my head weakly and wondered how long it would be before I could politely get myself home and crawl into bed.
Burroughs割下了长尾鲛三角形的头,同时又一次的嘲笑了我.之后他给我上了一堂关于沙丘长尾鲛,这种令人惊异的生物的课:长尾鲛能用它突起的,带角的下颚在土里掘出一条通道;这个由大自然鬼斧神工制造出来的下颚令长尾鲛能够在沙子下面毫不费力的游动,灵活得令人无法想象;还有其它许多的内容,可是现在我实在是听不进去.我虚弱的点点头,然后开始盘算我要花多少时间才能安稳的回到自己的家,然后爬到舒适的床上去.