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BRAN
布兰
The sound was the faintest of clinks, a scraping of steel over stone.
那声音不过是最微弱的金属碰击，钢铁刮过石面的响动。
He lifted his head from his paws, listening, sniffing at the night.
他抬起靠在前爪上的头，一边倾听，一边嗅着夜晚的气息。
The evening's rain had woken a hundred sleeping smells and made them ripe and strong again.
夜雨唤起千百种沉睡的味道，使它们成熟鲜活。
Grass and thorns, blackberries broken on the ground, mud, worms, rotting leaves, a rat creeping through the bush.
青草和荆棘，地上的黑莓，泥土，蠕虫，腐叶，钻过灌木丛的老鼠……一切都清晰可辨。
He caught the shaggy black scent of his brother's coat and the sharp coppery tang of blood from the squirrel he'd killed.
他还捕捉到弟弟那身茸茸黑毛的气味，以及他刚猎杀的松鼠所散发的浓烈血腥。
Other squirrels moved through the branches above, smelling of wet fur and fear, their little claws scratching at the bark.
很多松鼠在头顶枝头流窜，用小爪子抠挖树皮，湿润的毛皮，无边的恐惧。
The noise had sounded something like that.
一如外面的噪声。
And he heard it again, clink and scrape.
声音又来了，刮动，碰击。
It brought him to his feet.
他站起来，
His ears pricked and his tail rose.
竖起耳朵，尾巴翘立，
He howled, a long deep shivery cry, a howl to wake the sleepers,
放声长嗥。那是一声绵长高亢毛骨悚然的嗥叫，他要唤醒沉睡的人们，
but the piles of man-rock were dark and dead.
然而附近人类的石山依旧黑暗死寂。
A still wet night, a night to drive men into their holes.
这是个沉静而潮湿的夜，如此的夜将人类赶进了他们的洞窟。
The rain had stopped, but the men still hid from the damp, huddled by the fires in their caves of piled stone.
雨已停歇，但他们不想出来，而是躲在阴湿的石山灰洞，蜷缩在火堆边。
His brother came sliding through the trees,
弟弟从树丛中钻出来，
moving almost as quiet as another brother he remembered dimly from long ago,
动作沉寂得让他模糊想起很久之前有过的另一个兄弟，
the white one with the eyes of blood.
那个一身白毛却血红眼睛的哥哥。
This brother's eyes were pools of shadow, but the fur on the back of his neck was bristling.
弟弟的眼睛如一泓阴影之池，后颈的毛全竖起来。
He had heard the sounds as well, and known they meant danger.
他也听见了声音，知道意味着危险。
This time the clink and scrape were followed by a slithering and the soft swift patter of skinfeet on stone.
刮动和碰击声再次传来，其间还夹杂着滑行的响动，柔软的皮脚在石面上迅捷地拍打。
The wind brought the faintest whiff of a man-smell he did not know.
微风把一丝若有若无的男性气息吹到鼻尖。他不认得这气味。
Stranger. Danger. Death.
陌生。危险。死亡。
He ran toward the sound, his brother racing beside him.
他朝声音源头猛扑过去，弟弟紧跟在旁。
The stone dens rose before them, walls slick and wet.
石山在眼前浮现，又滑又湿。
He bared his teeth, but the man-rock took no notice.
他咧牙露齿，但人类的岩石并不理会。
A gate loomed up, a black iron snake coiled tight about bar and post.
面前是一座门，黑柱条间紧紧盘绕着一条钢蛇。
When he crashed against it, the gate shuddered and the snake clanked and slithered and held.
他撞上去，大门颤抖，钢蛇响动，它们摇晃半晌，复归平静。
