Through the bars he could look down the long stone burrow that ran between the walls to the stony field beyond,

透过门上的缝隙，他看见岩壁之间长长的石头洞穴，直通向远方的石头广场，

but there was no way through.

却过不去。

He could force his muzzle between the bars, but no more.

他努力想钻过缝隙，办不到。

Many a time his brother had tried to crack the black bones of the gate between his teeth,

弟弟用牙狠狠撕咬大门的黑骨头，

but they would not break.

咬不开。

They had tried to dig under, but there were great flat stones beneath, half-covered by earth and blown leaves.

他们试图合力在底下挖洞，但地面是又平又大的石头，惟有表面被泥土和棕叶覆盖。

Snarling, he paced back and forth in front of the gate, then threw himself at it once more.

他咆哮着，在大门前奔来奔去，接着再次撞门。

It moved a little and slammed him back.

它移动半分，又把他“砰”地摔回来。

Locked, something whispered. Chained.

门锁住了，有个声音在低语，被铁链锁住了。

The voice he did not hear, the scent without a smell.

他听不出声音从哪里来，更闻不到气味。

The other ways were closed as well.

各个方向都走不通。

Where doors opened in the walls of man-rock, the wood was thick and strong.

人造绝壁上的每扇门都关闭，木头又厚又硬。

There was no way out.

无路可出。

There is, the whisper came, and it seemed as if he could see the shadow of a great tree covered in needles,

还有一条路，那声音又来了，突然之间，一棵罩着针叶的大树轮廓在眼前浮现，

slanting up out of the black earth to ten times the height of a man.

它从黑色的大地中斜斜地长出来，几乎有十个人高。

Yet when he looked about, it was not there.

可他抬头四望，什么也没有！

The other side of the godswood, the sentinel, hurry, hurry...

它在神木林的另一边，是棵哨兵树，快啊，快啊……

Through the gloom of night came a muffled shout, cut short.

一声嘎然而止的闷哼，穿过夜色。

Swiftly, swiftly, he whirled and bounded back into the trees, wet leaves rustling beneath his paws, branches whipping at him as he rushed past.

快，快，他急转身子，蹿进林中，湿叶在爪下沙沙作响，头顶紧密的枝条不住抽打。

He could hear his brother following close.

他听出弟弟紧跟在后。

They plunged under the heart tree and around the cold pool, through the blackberry bushes,

他们一同从心树下跑过，绕开泉水，穿越黑莓丛，

under a tangle of oaks and ash and hawthorn scrub, to the far side of the wood... and there it was,

经过杂乱的橡树、芩树和山楂林，朝树林远端前进……就是那里，

the shadow he'd glimpsed without seeing, the slanting tree pointing at the rooftops.

就是那棵他从未留意却又历历在目的树，这棵歪斜的树顶部靠上屋檐。

Sentinel, came the thought.

就是它，这想法突如其来。

He remembered how it was to climb it then.

他还记得爬树的感觉。

The needles everywhere, scratching at his bare face and falling down the back of his neck,

针叶无处不在，刮着脸庞，掉进后颈，

the sticky sap on his hands, the sharp piney smell of it.

黏稠的树液会沾上手掌，发出浓烈刺鼻的味道。

It was an easy tree for a boy to climb, leaning as it did, crooked,

爬这样的树对小男孩而言很容易，它又斜又弯，

the branches so close together they almost made a ladder, slanting right up to the roof.

枝条密密匝匝好似一座天然的云梯，正好搭上屋顶。