十年战争的故事 #2
来源：http://mmh7.ubi.com/en/blog/post/view/tales-of-the-ten-years-war-part-2，以下由HeavenK翻译。
With Jezebeth’s death, the Fourth Eclipse was finally over. But in the Empire the troubles were only beginning…
随着耶泽蓓丝之死，第四次月蚀终于结束。但是帝国内部的麻烦才刚刚开始……
844 YSD – The Conclave of the New Dawn
七龙纪844年 – 新晓选举会议
Maeve’s death had been avenged. With Falcon’s Reach reduced to a pile of smoldering ruins, the fallen Empress’ body was taken to the imperial Summer Palace, near Whitecliff, in the Greyhound Duchy. There she received funerals worthy of her rank: her body was cremated, letting, as per the custom, her essence rise towards the sun towards Elrath.
玫芙之死终于得以复仇。随着法肯里奇化为一堆灰烬废墟，过世女皇的遗体被运往位处灵缇公国白岩城不远的帝国夏宫。在那里，女皇将得到符合其身份的葬礼，按照帝国风俗，她的遗体会得以火化，以便其灵魂能够前往太阳——光之龙艾尔拉思的所在。
No one could ignore the mounting tension during the ceremony. All the Dukes and Duchesses were in attendance.
无人会错过火葬及悼念仪式。所有的大公和女大公都现身仪式现场。其中包括：
Ivan of Griffin, Maeve’s avenger. Seamus of Stag. Amílcar of Bull. Rowena of Unicorn. Enguerrand of Greyhound. Stefan of Wolf.
狮鹫大公伊凡，玫芙的复仇者；雄鹿大公谢玛斯；公牛大公阿米卡；独角兽女大公罗温娜；灵缇大公昂格朗；恶狼大公斯蒂芬。
If Maeve’s son Brendan were truly dead, one of them would soon become Emperor or Empress.
如果玫芙之子布兰登真的已经逝去，那么他们当中的一人将成为帝国的皇帝或是女皇。
Soon after Maeve’s funeral, the Church of Light announced the creation of the Conclave of the New Dawn in the holy city of Flammschrein. This assembly of Angels, priests and scholars, led by the beloved Archangel and war hero Sandalphon, was to decide who would inherit the crown. Of course, even centuries after Uriel’s infamous Deception, many citizens of the Empire still had reservations regarding the Church’s impartiality, suspecting the Priests and Angels would simply pick the candidate that would serve their own interests best.
在玫芙的葬礼后没多久，光之教会宣布会在圣焰城举行象征着帝国新黎明的选举会议。这场在受人爱戴的大天使及战争英雄圣多芬的领导下，聚集了诸多天使、牧师和学者的会议，将决定谁会继承帝位。自然，即使在乌列那臭名昭著的背叛之后数个世纪，帝国仍有许多公民质疑教会的公正性，担心牧师和天使们会从自身利益出发，挑出一个愿意听他们话的候选人。
To alleviate these suspicions, Sandalphon decided to invite an Angel named Murazel to sit at the Conclave. “Guardian of Hammer Fall, brave heart of the purest Light, I trust you. I trust you to help us choose the best possible Emperor for this great nation. I trust you to keep us honest and true. Will you join the Conclave of the New Dawn, and sit at my side once again through these testing times?”
为了缓和这一疑虑，圣多芬决定邀请一位名为缪拉泽尔的天使来加入这场选举。“落锤镇的守护者，纯洁圣光的勇敢之心，我信任你，信任你能够帮助我们选出最适合这一伟大国度的皇帝，信任你能够保持诚直与真实。你愿意加入新黎明选举，愿意再次与我一起共同渡过这一考验时刻么？”
It was a brilliant move: Murazel was a figure of legend, known to favour Humans over her fellow Angels. She had helped the Free Cities of the East on numerous occasions, sometimes against the Empire, and her own kind considered her a renegade. If there was an Angel who would never compromise her ethics for personal gain or politics, it was Murazel.
这一举动十分英明，缪拉泽尔本身就是一位传奇偶像，其素来以帮助人类更甚于自己的天使同族而闻名。她曾经数次支援东部的自由都市，有时甚至会因此与帝国为敌，就连其同族也将其看做是离经叛道的背叛者。如果世间有哪位天使能够不因个人得失或政治利益而妥协，那必然就是缪拉泽尔。
Murazel accepted Sandalphon’s offer, and departed Hammer Fall for Flammschrein, putting an end to six centuries of exile.
缪拉泽尔接受了圣多芬的提议，离开了落锤镇前往圣焰城，结束了其六个世纪的流放生涯。
猎鹰血脉 - A Falcon by any other name…
Of course, as soon as the Conclave was established, many young men arrived in Flammschrein, claiming they were Maeve’s son Brendan. The Conclave interviewed them, and in the end rejected them all. Some Conclave members insisted the rascals needed to be tortured or executed publicly, to set an example. True to herself, Murazel spoke vehemently against this solution, and proposed to send them to jail for one year instead, to “meditate” on their life choices. The wise Sandalphon approved Murazel’s suggestion. It proved dissuasive enough.
自从选举开始以后，毫不意外得，便有许多年轻人跑来圣焰城，宣称自己就是玫芙之子布兰登。选举会挨个对其进行面试，最终拒绝了他们所有人。有些选举会成员甚至坚持表示应该对这些流氓公开处刑，以儆效尤。不过忠于自身的缪拉泽尔激烈地反对这一方案，并提议应该将这些人关押一年，让他们认真反思自己的错误决定就可以了。睿智的圣多芬采纳了缪拉泽尔的意见，这一惩罚已经足够了。
Several weeks passed, and the Conclave was still debating, or investigating leads regarding Brendan’s possible survival. Within the Empire, tension was growing. Everybody had an opinion about who should sit on the throne. All Dukes and Duchesses had at least one Falcon ancestor in their family tree, and they were all building their cases, gathering genealogical documents and other proofs of their heredity.
数周以后，选举会仍在对布兰登存活的可能性进行辩论和调查。但是在帝国内部，局势正在变得日益紧张。每个人都有自己心中认为应该登上帝位的候选人。所有的大公和女大公都有猎鹰的血脉，其先祖中都有至少一位猎鹰家族的子嗣。他们都在整理自己的族谱，以证明自己应该成为帝位的继承人。
The most obvious candidate was Seamus of Stag. The house of Stag was cousin to the Falcons, and it seemed this strong family bond could not be questioned. Yet some scholars pointed out that Seamus was not a descendant of the main Stag bloodline, which had gone extinct around the Second Eclipse, but of a remote branch, cousins by marriage. He had some Falcon blood, but not as much as he would have hoped.
其中最有可能的继承人是雄鹿大公谢玛斯。雄鹿家族是猎鹰家族的旁系，其血脉关系毋庸置疑。不过，有学者指出，谢玛斯并非雄鹿的本家，毕竟雄鹿家族的本家在第二次月蚀期间已经灭绝了。谢玛斯只是雄鹿家族的旁支，本家的表亲而已，他或许有猎鹰的血脉，但是并没有期望的那么多。
These same scholars had their sights on a more potent candidate: Ivan of Griffin. It was brought to light that Ivan descended from both the Falcon and the main Stag bloodlines. The great hero of the Second Eclipse, Duke Anton, had later become Empress Gwendolyn’s consort, fathering three children with her, the second of which then inherited the Griffin Duchy. But Anton’s own mother had been Cate of Stag, the sole member of her house to have had children.
这些学者将目光转向了另一个更有潜力的候选者，狮鹫大公伊凡。学者们发现，伊凡祖上继承了猎鹰和雄鹿家的主血脉。二次月蚀的伟大英雄安东，随后成为女皇格温多利的顾问，并与其生有三个孩子，其中的老二继承了狮鹫公国。而安东本人的母亲又是雄鹿家的凯特，当时的雄鹿本家唯一生有后代的成员。
Needless to say, Seamus was not pleased by the work of these scholars.
无需多言，谢玛斯对这些学者的工作十分不满。
战争谣言 - War of the Words
Accusatory whispers started to spread in the taverns all around the Empire. These rumours claimed that it was Ivan who had led the Demons inside Falcon’s Reach, hoping to inherit the throne after Maeve’s death. If Ivan was innocent, then how did he know where Jezebeth was hiding? Was he really trying to avenge Maeve… or was he just making sure the Succubus would remain silent?
控诉的耳语开始在帝国所有的酒馆中蔓延。这些谣言宣称，正是伊凡领军恶魔入侵了法肯里奇，以便在玫芙之死后继承帝位。谣言说，如果伊凡是清白的，那为什么他会知道耶泽蓓丝的藏身处？他真的是在为玫芙报仇么？还是说实际上是为了确信魅魔永远沉默？
At the time, Ivan was courting Seamus’ daughter, Nolwenn. As the rumour grew stronger, Seamus publicly forbade his daughter to see Ivan again. “The Griffin may have blood on his wings”, he famously stated. Amílcar of Bull, who had inherited an old family grudge towards the Griffins and had always distrusted Ivan, made accusations of his own, much less subtle.
与此同时，伊凡正在追求谢玛斯的女儿诺尔文。随着谣言愈演愈烈，谢玛斯公开下令禁止自己的女儿再去与伊凡见面。他甚至宣称“狮鹫之翼下藏有血腥”。公牛大公阿米卡，出身于一项对狮鹫家族不满的家庭，并且长期以来不信任伊凡，于是他毫不掩饰地公开跳出来控诉伊凡。
The other Dukes were not so eager to join in Seamus and Amílcar’s accusations, but they demanded that Ivan revealed how he knew where Jezebeth was hiding, to put this matter to rest once and for all. Stubborn and proud Ivan refused to explain himself. To you, my fellow shadow councillors, I can reveal he had learnt about Jezebeth from a trusted informant, and being a man of honour he simply would not betray his source. When Amílcar of Bull claimed Ivan’s silence was enough proof of his duplicity, Ivan challenged Amílcar to a duel. “There’s nothing I need to be ashamed of”, he said. “Let Elrath choose who is telling the truth, and who is spreading lies!”
其他大公们则没有那么急于加入谢玛斯和阿米卡的控诉中，但是他们仍然要求伊凡公开解释自己为何能够得知耶泽蓓丝的藏身之所，将此事一了百了。固执而高傲的伊凡拒绝对此进行解释。不过对你，我的影子议会同僚，我可以告诉你他是从一个可信的消息来源处得到了耶泽蓓丝的下落，而作为一个坚守荣誉之人，伊凡拒绝背叛自己的消息来源。于是，阿米卡宣称伊凡的沉默就足以证明其有罪。伊凡因此要求与阿米卡决斗，“我无需感到羞愧”，他说，“让艾尔拉思决定到底是谁在说谎，谁在说真话！”
Two weeks before the anniversary of Maeve’s death, Ivan and Amílcar met on neutral ground, in a small town called Brookshire, within the former Falcon province. Declaring himself Maeve’s champion, Amílcar unsheathed his sword. There was tumult among the witnesses when they recognized the legendary Blade of Truth, the ancestral sword of the Falcon dynasty, one of the seven “Bastards of Elrath”. Ivan saluted his foe with the Griffin’s Blade of Revelation, and the duel began.
在玫芙逝世一周年的两周后，伊凡和阿米卡在一个中立地点会面，一个位于前猎鹰行省境内名为布鲁克郡的小城。阿米卡宣称自己是玫芙的骑士，并拔剑出鞘，旁观者发出阵阵骚动，他们认出此剑正是传说中的真实之剑，七把“艾尔拉思的美德”之一，猎鹰皇朝的祖传圣剑。伊凡则取来了狮鹫家族的启示之剑作为回应，于是决斗开始。
Ivan was younger, faster, more powerful, but Amílcar was more experienced, more skilled, more cunning. Their duel lasted thirty agonizing minutes during which it seemed they were evenly matched. The blades clashed, again and again. And the unimaginable happened: one of Ivan’s blows shattered the Blade of Falcon to pieces.
伊凡更加年轻、迅速、有力，但是阿米卡经验老道、狡猾奸诈。他们的决斗持续了令人煎熬的三十分钟之久，仍然未能分出胜负。剑光交映，势均力敌。突然间，没人能够预料的事情发生了，伊凡一剑击碎了猎鹰之剑。
Disarmed and shocked, Amílcar admitted his defeat. Ivan had proven his innocence in a fair fight, but an ominous feeling descended upon the audience. Many felt the broken sword was no coincidence: it was an omen heralding the end of the Falcon Empire.
手无寸铁且震惊无比的阿米卡承认了自己的失败。伊凡在这场公正的决斗中证实了自己的清白，但是一股不祥的预感笼罩在围观者当中。许多人认为猎鹰之剑的碎裂并非巧合，这预示着猎鹰帝国的终结。
Three days later, the bells of Flammschrein started ringing, but their song was dreary and doleful. It was a death-knell. Sandalphon was dead; a dark blade had been plunged into his heart. Murazel was nowhere to be found.
三天之后，圣焰城丧钟鸣响，其钟声苦闷阴沉。圣多芬被杀，其胸口插着一把暗色匕首，而缪拉泽尔则消失的无影无踪。
