1 GIDEON CAHILL 1507

VESPERS RISING by RICK RIORDAN PETER LERANGIS GORDON KORMAN JUDE WATSON

瑞克·里奥丹，彼得·莱兰吉，戈登·科曼，裘德·沃森

GIDEON CAHILL 1507 by Rick Riordan Damien Vesper didn't plan on killing anyone today. It was a fine autumn morning. A crisp wind had blown away the fog, and sunshine sparkled on the Celtic Sea. In the distance, the coast of the Irish mainland stretched out lush and green. All of that land, as far as Damien could see, had been controlled by the Vesper family for centuries. From this island, a mile offshore, Damien couldn't see his ancestral estate— a castle he hadn't visited in over a year. He couldn't see his peasants dying or hear them crying in their squalor and misery. He couldn't smell the stench of death. Far to the northeast, one pillar of smoke snaked into the blue sky— probably another village being burned— but otherwise everything looked peaceful and

达米恩·维斯珀今天没打算杀人。 这是一个晴朗的秋日早晨。 一阵清风吹散了雾，凯尔特海上的阳光闪闪发光。 远处，爱尔兰大陆的海岸郁郁葱葱，一望无际。 在达米恩看来，那片土地，几个世纪以来都被维斯帕家族控制着。 从这个离岸一英里的小岛上，达米恩看不到他祖先的庄园——一座他一年多没去过的城堡。 他看不到他的农民死去，也听不到他们在肮脏和痛苦中哭泣。 他闻不到死亡的恶臭。 在遥远的东北方向，一缕烟雾袅袅升上蓝天——可能是另一个村庄被烧毁了——但除此之外，一切看起来都很平静

beautiful. No sign of the Black Death. Damien sipped his mulled wine, enjoying the scent of clove and nutmeg. He found it ridiculous that in this modern age, the year 1507, he still had to flee the plague— the same sickness that had cursed Ireland in his great-great-great- grandfather's time. So many advances in the sciences since then, so many amazing discoveries, and still the plague hampered his plans. But no matter. The Black Death couldn't touch him here. He simply left his lieutenants in charge on the mainland to collect his taxes. He ignored their nervous reports about the hundreds dying each week, his peasants' annoying pleas for help. He continued his work in peace, enjoying the acquisitions his agents sent him from across Europe. He gazed at the woodblock-panel map now adorning his wall— a beautiful piece just arrived from France. Reports and sketches from Italy covered his desk. Damien searched the world for rare treasures and powerful secrets. Yet a single message whispered in his ear this morning by his neighbors' housekeeper might be more important

美丽。没有黑死病的迹象 达米恩啜着他的热葡萄酒，享受着丁香和肉豆蔻的香味。 他觉得可笑的是，在这个现代，1507年，他还得逃离瘟疫——在他的曾曾曾祖父时代，同样的疾病曾诅咒过爱尔兰。 从那时起，科学上取得了如此多的进步，有如此多的惊人发现，但瘟疫仍然阻碍了他的计划。 但没关系。黑死病在这里伤不了他。 他只是让他的副官在大陆负责收税。 他对每周数百人死亡的紧张报道，以及农民们烦人的求助视而不见。 他平静地继续着他的工作，享受着他的经纪人从欧洲各地送给他的战利品。 他凝视着墙上装饰着的木版地图——一幅刚从法国运来的漂亮作品。 来自意大利的报道和速写摆满了他的办公桌。 达米恩在世界各地寻找稀有的宝藏和强大的秘密。 然而，今天早上邻居的管家在他耳边悄悄说的一句话可能更重要

than any intelligence he'd ever received. Was it possible that the most powerful secret in the world, a bit of information that could help Damien realize his wildest ambitions, was hiding right under his nose? This morning, he intended to find out. His eyes drifted to the new mosaic on his ceiling: a circle five feet in diameter depicting the Vesper coat of arms, but it was more than decoration. He'd recently installed the trap for his amusement. He'd thought to try it out on some lazy servant or the next guard who fell asleep on duty. But now it would serve a much more important purpose. He would test his theory. If he was right, Damien Vesper might become the most powerful man in the world. There was a rap at the door. His servant Balthazar stepped through, bowing low. "My lord, Gideon Cahill is here." Damien smiled. He didn't plan on killing anyone today. But he did believe in being flexible. "Show him in," Damien ordered.

比他收到的任何情报都重要 有没有可能这个世界上最强大的秘密，一个可以帮助达米恩实现他最疯狂的野心的信息，就藏在他的眼皮底下？ 今天早上，他打算一探究竟。 他的目光转向天花板上的新马赛克：一个直径五英尺的圆圈，描绘了晚祷的纹章，但它不仅仅是装饰。 他最近装这个陷阱只是为了好玩。 他本想在某个懒惰的仆人或下一个值班时睡着的警卫身上试试。 但现在它有了一个更重要的目的。 他将检验他的理论。如果他是对的，达米安·维斯珀可能会成为世界上最有权势的人。 有人敲门。 他的仆人巴尔萨泽走了进来，深深地鞠了一躬。 “大人，吉迪恩·卡荷尔来了。” 达明笑了。他今天没打算杀人。 但他相信要灵活变通。 “让他进来，”达米安命令道。

Gideon was dressed in his usual peasant clothes— quite unbecoming for a man of his talents. His hair was a swirl of wild gray tufts like a bank of storm clouds. His rugged face was darkened from years of brewing mixtures in a smoky laboratory. Chemicals had turned his frock into a palette of stains, and his forearms were covered with notes in Latin— reminders that Gideon would write on himself when he couldn't be bothered to find a piece of parchment. Only Gideon's gold ring, a family heirloom much too fine for a peasant, marked him as a man of worth. And his eyes— still fierce and bright as ever under bushy gray brows. Those eyes had first caught Damien's attention a decade ago, when Gideon Cahill stood up at the Christmas feast, at Damien's own table, and dared to correct him on a point of astronomy, citing some new work by a scientist named Copernicus. Damien was not used to being corrected. He might have had Gideon flogged for his rudeness, but the intelligent gleam in Gideon's eyes gave him pause.

吉迪恩穿着他平常的农服——对于像他这样有才干的人来说，这是很不相称的。 他的头发是一绺乱蓬蓬的灰色头发，像一堆暴风雨的乌云。 由于常年在烟雾缭绕的实验室里酿造混合物，他那张粗犷的脸变得黝黑。 化学药品把他的衣服染成了一滩污渍，他的前臂上满是拉丁文笔记——这是吉迪恩在找不到羊皮纸的时候会在自己身上写的提醒。 只有吉迪恩的金戒指，一枚对一个农民来说太精致的传家宝，表明他是一个有价值的人。 还有他的眼睛——在浓密的灰色眉毛下仍然像以前一样凶狠而明亮。 这双眼睛第一次引起达米安的注意是在十年前，当时吉迪恩·卡希尔（Gideon Cahill）在圣诞宴会上站起来，在达米安自己的桌子上，大胆地纠正他的一个天文学观点，引用了一位名叫哥白尼的科学家的一些新研究。 达米恩不习惯被人纠正。 他本可以因为基甸的粗鲁而鞭打他，但是基甸眼中睿智的光芒使他踌躇不前。

He remembered thinking: Here is a man I could use. Not a sheep. A man of intellect. After the feast, the two of them had talked into the night, discussing learned subjects no one else in Vesper's miserable backwater domain could hope to understand. It had been the beginning of a rare friendship. True, that friendship had frayed since the Cahills and Vesper and his household had fled to this island together. Sometimes weeks would go by as Gideon secluded himself in his lab, only sending notes to Vesper's manor when he needed supplies or money. If not for the Cahills' housekeeper, Maria, Damien would've been intolerably ignorant of Gideon's activities, but Maria was an imperfect spy at best. The last time Damien had seen Gideon in person, about a week ago, Damien had been startled— even concerned— by how much his friend had aged. Poor, noble Gideon, who took the plague so personally and labored like Hercules to find a cure. He had looked no better than one of Vesper's serfs, broken from years of hard fieldwork.

他记得当时在想：这个人我可以派上用场。 不是羊。有才智的人 宴会结束后，他们俩一直聊到深夜，讨论着一些学问上的话题，在这个可怜的穷乡僻巷里，没有人能指望他们理解。 这是一段难得的友谊的开始。 的确，自从卡希尔一家和维斯珀一家一起逃到这个岛上以来，这种友谊就开始破裂了。 有时，吉迪恩把自己关在实验室里，几个星期过去了，只有在需要补给品或钱的时候，他才给韦斯珀的庄园写信。 如果不是卡希尔家的管家玛丽亚，达米安对吉迪恩的活动一无所知，这让人难以忍受，但玛丽亚充其量只是个不完美的间谍。 达米安最后一次见到吉迪恩本人是在大约一个星期前，达米安对他的朋友老了这么多感到震惊，甚至担心。 可怜而高贵的吉迪恩，他把瘟疫看得那么重，像赫拉克勒斯一样努力寻找治疗方法。 他看上去并不比一个因多年辛勤的田野劳动而残废的维斯珀的农奴好多少。