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扎雷克的赎金
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2022-11-14更新
最新编辑:Lu_23333
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更新日期：2022-11-14
最新编辑：Lu_23333
扎雷克的赎金
嘉莉蜜儿站在花园里，读着仆人递给她的信，手里的祭典玫瑰落在地上。一瞬间，宛如所有鸟儿都停止了歌唱，乌云遮蔽了天空，而她精心搭建的安乐窝也将湮灭在浓浓黑暗里。
“你的儿子在我们手上”信上说。“我们会很快告知你赎金要求”
扎雷克从没到过比阿克根更远的地方。一定是大道上的匪徒，也许是兽人，亦或该死的丹莫人，见到他华丽的马车，见财起意才将他绑架。嘉莉蜜儿倚在柱子上，担忧着儿子的安危。他还是个学生，根本没法和全副武装的敌人对抗，不知道他们有没有打他？一个母亲的心难以承受这样的思索。
“别告诉我他们这么快就来要赎金了”一个熟悉的声音说，紧接着一张脸从篱笆后面露出来。是扎雷克。嘉莉蜜儿冲过去抱住她的儿子，泪水滑落面颊。
“到底发生什么事了？”她哭道。“我以为你被绑架了”
“是的”扎雷克回答。“三个又高又大的北方人在弗里姆翁关袭击了马车。是三兄弟，据我所知，是玛塔伊斯，乌林，和库尔格。你真该见见这三个家伙，妈妈。他们随便哪个都会被我们家的门框子卡住”
“然后发生什么事了？”嘉莉蜜儿问道。“你被人救了吗？”
我想过等待救援，可是我知道他们来要赎金时你会多么着急。我记得阿克根的导师教过我保持冷静的方法，要观察周围环境，找出敌人的弱点”扎雷克笑起来。“这花了点时间，那几个家伙可真是怪兽。可是当我听到他们相互吹嘘的时候，我明白自大就是他们的弱点”
“你是怎么做的？”
“他们把我锁在营地里，就在离希尔不远的树林中一个小山丘上，可以俯瞰一条很宽的河。我听到库尔格对另外两个家伙说，去河里游泳是个打发时间的好办法，而他们也都同意。这时候我说话了”
“‘我能在三十分钟内游一个来回。’我说”
“‘绝不可能，’库尔格说。‘我比你这样的小鬼游得快得多。’”
“于是我们决定跳下悬崖，游到河中岛，再返回。我们走上各自作为跳台的石头，库尔格兴致勃勃地教导起我游泳的要点。四肢协调运动的重要性啦，划水三到四下再换气啦，不要突然减速或是长时间闭气啦等等。我点头同意他的观点。然后我们跳下了悬崖。我用了一个多小时完成了来回，而库尔格再也没有出现。他头朝下撞上了水里的石头。我在挑选跳台的时候就已经注意到水下若隐若现的石头影子了”
“可是你回去了？”嘉莉蜜儿惊讶地说。“你不是在那时候逃出来的吗？”
“在那时候逃跑太冒险了”扎雷克说。“他们能轻易抓到我，可不能让他们把库尔格的失踪怪到我头上来。我说我不知道他出了什么事，在搜寻了一会儿之后，他们认为他忘了比赛，转而上岸找食物去了。他们找不到我与此事有关的任何证据，因为我全程都在他们的监视之下。两兄弟在崖上选了个极好的宿营位置以防止我逃跑”
“其中一个，玛塔伊斯，开始评论起泥土和崖下河岸的石头。对于赛跑，他说，这是个很理想的场地。我表达了对这一运动的轻视，于是他开始教育我赛跑运动的详细技巧。他做着鬼脸，怪腔怪调地演示如何用鼻子吸气，用嘴巴呼气；膝盖如何弯曲，脚步如何交替等等。最重要的，他总结道，是要保持适当的冲劲，但又不能全力冲刺。保持第二的位置就再好不过了，他说，这给人最后爆发的精神和身体动力”
“我可是个极富热情的学生，玛塔伊斯于是决定在日落之前绕着河岸来次短跑。乌林让我们顺便拾些柴火。我们从崖上开始，冲下山坡，抵达崖底。我谨遵他关于呼吸，步态和步调的建议，不过从一开始我就全力冲刺。即使他有一双长腿，在第一个拐角的地方我还是领先了几步”
“由于被我挡着，玛塔伊斯看不到我跳过的石头裂缝。他连惨叫都来不及就掉下了悬崖。我捡了些树枝，回到了营地”
“你这是在炫耀”嘉莉蜜儿皱眉道。“那可是个逃跑的好时机”
“也许吧”扎雷克同意。“可是得看地形——除了几棵大树之外便只有灌木了。乌林会很快发现我的踪迹并把我抓回去，而我将没法解释玛塔伊斯的失踪。随意收集些柴火给我机会研究周围环境，制订出最后的逃跑计划”
“当我回到营地的时候，我告诉乌林玛塔伊斯很快就回来，拖了好大一颗枯死的树。乌林嘲笑他兄弟的力气，说他自己能轻易拔起一棵树，再丢进火里。我对此表示了恰当的怀疑”
“‘你会看到的，’他说着，毫不费力地撕裂了一棵十英尺高的树”
“‘那只是棵树苗，’我抗议。‘我想你能拔起一棵大树。’我示意他空地边那棵巨大壮观的树。乌林抓住树干，用惊人的力气摇晃它，把树根弄松，当然，也弄松了树梢的蜂巢，那玩意儿直直掉在他头上”
“我就是在那时候逃走的，妈妈”扎雷克总结说，带着点孩子气的骄傲。“那时候玛塔伊斯和库尔格还在悬崖底下，而乌林已经被一大群嗡嗡作响的蜜蜂淹没了”
嘉莉蜜儿再次拥抱了她的儿子。
出版商注：
我以前是不愿出版马洛巴·苏尔的书的，不过在桂林大学出版社希望我编辑这一版本时，我决定借此机会做一个直接永久的声明。
对于马洛巴·苏尔作品的确切完成年代，学者还未达成共识，不过可以肯定的是马洛巴·苏尔是“高尔·费林姆”的笔名，他是寇里蒂里科第一帝国与泰伯·塞普汀之交无王时期的一个剧作家，以写作喜剧和浪漫传奇故事闻名。有理论认为费林姆依据锻莫人的一些真人真事编了许多戏剧，依靠改编故事和把作品搬上舞台来赚钱。
高尔·费林姆给自己取了个锻莫人笔名“马洛巴·苏尔”来增加故事的真实性，使其在人们普遍辨识能力较弱的年代极受欢迎。当“马洛巴·苏尔”和他的作品成为人们热烈谈论的对象时，从未有人真正见到过“马洛巴·苏尔”其人，法师公会，尤里安诺斯学院或其他任何机构亦均无此人。
不论如何，“马洛巴·苏尔”故事中大部分锻莫人都有骇人和神秘的共性，这一点有利于恐吓丹莫人，北方人甚至红色守卫，来使其服从，并造成了至今仍然未知的某些负面影响。
The Ransom of Zarek
The Ransom of Zarek, Ancient Tales of the Dwemer, Part I
Jalemmil stood in her garden and read the letter her servant had brought to her. The bouquet of joss roses in her hand fell to the ground. For a moment it was as if all birds had ceased to sing and a cloud had passed over the sky. Her carefully cultivated and structured haven seemed to flood over with darkness.
"We have thy son," it read. "We will be in touch with thee shortly with our ransom demands."
Zarek had never made it as far as Akgun after all. One of the brigands on the road, Orcs probably, or accursed Dunmer, must have seen his well-appointed carriage, and taken him hostage. Jalemmil clutched at a post for support, wondering if her boy had been hurt. He was but a student, not the sort to fight against well-armed men, but had they beaten him? It was more than a mother's heart could bear to imagine.
"Don't tell me they sent the ransom note so quickly," called a family voice, and a familiar face appeared through the hedge. It was Zarek. Jalemmil hurried to embrace her boy, tears running down her face.
"What happened?" she cried. "I thought thou had been kidnapped."
"I was," said Zarek. "Three huge soaring Nords attacked by carriage on the Frimvorn Pass. Brothers, as I learned, named Mathais, Ulin, and Koorg. Thou should have seen these men, mother. Each one of them would have had trouble fitting through the front door, I can tell thee."
"What happened?" Jalemmil repeated. "Were thou rescued?"
"I thought about waiting for that, but I knew they'd send off a ransom note and I know how thou does worry. So I remembered what my mentor at Akgun always said about remaining calm, observing thy surroundings, and looking for thy opponent's weakness," Zarek grinned. "It took a while, though, because these fellows were truly monsters. And then, when I listened to them, bragging to one another, I realized that vanity was their weakness."
"What did thou do?"
"They had me chained at their camp in the woods not far from Cael, on a high knoll over-looking a wide river. I heard one of them, Koorg, telling the others that it would take the better part of an hour to swim across the river and back. They were nodding in agreement, when I spoke up.
"'I could swim that river and back in thirty minutes,' I said.
"'Impossible,' said Koorg. 'I can swim faster than a little whelp like thee.'
"So it was agreed that we would dive off the cliff, swim to the center island, and return. As we went to our respective rocks, Koorg took it upon himself to lecture me about all the fine points of swimming. The importance of synchronized movements of the arms and legs for maximum speed. How essential it was to breathe after only third or fourth stroke, not too often to slow thyself down, but not too often to lose one's air. I nodded and agreed to all his fine points. Then we dove off the cliffs. I made it to the island and back in a little over an hour, but Koorg never returned. He had dashed his brains at the rocks at the base of the cliff. I had noticed the telltale undulations of underwater rocks, and had taken the diving rock on the right."
"But thou returned?" asked Jalemmil, astounded. "Was that not then when thou escaped?"
"It was too risky to escape then," said Zarek. "They could have easily caught me again, and I wasn't keen to be blamed for Koorg's disappearance. I said I did not know what happened to him, and after some searching, they decided he had forgotten about the race and had swum ashore to hunt for food. They could not see how I could have had anything to do with his disappearance, as fully visible as I was throughout my swim. The two brothers began making camp along the rocky cliff-edge, picking an ideal location so that I would not be able to escape.
"One of the brothers, Mathais, began commenting on the quality of the soil and the gradual incline of the rock that circled around the bay below. Ideal, he said, for a foot race. I expressed my ignorance of the sport, and he was keen to give me details of the proper technique for running a race. He made absurd faces, showing how one must breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth; how to bend one's knees to the proper angle on the rise; the importance of sure foot placement. Most important, he explained, was that the runner keep an aggressive but not too strenuous pace if one intends to win. It is fine to run in second place through the race, he said, provided one has the willpower and strength to pull out in the end.
"I was an enthusiastic student, and Mathais decided that we ought to run a quick race around the edge of the bay before night fell. Ulin told us to bring back some firewood when we came back. We began at once down the path, skirting the cliff below. I followed his advice about breath, gait, and foot placement, but I ran with all my power right from the start. Despite his much longer legs, I was a few paces ahead as we wound the first corner.
"With his eyes on my back, Mathais did not see the gape in the rock that I jumped over. He plummeted over the cliff before he had a chance to cry out. I spent a few minutes gathering some twigs before I returned to Ulin at camp."
"Now thou were just showing off," frowned Jalemmil. "Surely that would have been a good time to escape."
"Thou might think so," agreed Zarek. "But thou had to see the topography -- a few large trees, and then nothing but shrubs. Ulin would have noticed my absence and caught up with me in no time, and I would have had a hard time explaining Mathais's absence. However, the brief forage around the area allowed me to observe some of the trees close up, and I could formulate my final plan.
"When I got back to camp with a few twigs, I told Ulin that Mathais was slow coming along, dragging a large dead tree behind him. Ulin scoffed at his brother's strength, saying it would take him time to pull up a live tree by the roots and drop it on the bonfire. I expressed reasonable doubt.
"'I'll show thee,' he said, ripping up a ten foot tall specimen effortlessly.
"'But that's scarcely a sapling,' I objected. 'I thought thou could rip up a tree.' His eyes followed mine to a magnificent, heavy-looking one at the edge of the clearing. Ulin grabbed it and began to shake it with a tremendous force to loosen its roots from the dirt. With that, he loosened the hive from the uppermost branches, dropping it down onto his head.
"That was when I made my escape, mother," said Zarek, in conclusion, showing a little schoolboy pride. "While Mathais and Koorg were at the base of the cliff, and Ulin was flailing about, engulfed by a swarm."
Jalemmil embraced her son once again.
Publisher's Note
I was reluctant to publish the works of Marobar Sul, but when the University of Gwylim Press asked me to edit this edition, I decided to use this as an opportunity to set the record straight once and for all.
Scholars do not agree on the exact date of Marobar Sul's work, but it is generally agreed that they were written by the playwright "Gor Felim," famous for popular comedies and romances during the Interregnum between the fall of the First Cyrodilic Empire and the rise of Tiber Septim. The current theory holds that Felim heard a few genuine Dwemer tales and adapted them to the stage in order to make money, along with rewritten versions of many of his own plays.
Gor Felim created the persona of "Marobar Sul" who could translate the Dwemer language in order to add some sort of validity to the work and make it even more valuable to the gullible. Note that while "Marobar Sul" and his works became the subject of heated controversy, there are no reliable records of anyone actually meeting "Marobar Sul," nor was there anyone of that name employed by the Mages Guild, the School of Julianos, or any other intellectual institution.
In any case, the Dwemer in most of the tales of "Marobar Sul" bear little resemblance to the fearsome, unfathomable race that frightened even the Dunmer, Nords, and Redguards into submission and built ruins that even now have yet to be understood.
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