The room was bare and didn't look as if it had been lived in much. The floor was stone, rough-laid, a single fur rug laid before a brazier. A little girl was sitting on the rug, drinking from a big double-handled mug, but she scrambled3 to her feet as we came in, and backed against the wall, looking at us with wide eyes.
She had pale-red hair like Juli's, cut straight in a fringe across her forehead, and she was dressed in a smock of dyed red fur that almost matched her hair. A little smear4 of milk like a white moustache clung to her upper lip where she[105] had forgotten to wipe her mouth. She was about five years old, with deep-set dark eyes like Juli's, that watched me gravely without surprise or fear; she evidently knew who I was.
"Rindy," Rakhal said quietly, not taking his eyes from me. "Go into the other room."
Rindy didn't move, still staring at me. Then she moved toward Miellyn, looking up intently not at the woman, but at the pattern of embroideries5 across her dress. It was very quiet, until Rakhal added, in a gentle and curiously6 moderate voice, "Do you still carry a skean, Race?"
I shook my head. "There's an ancient proverb on Terra, about blood being thicker than water, Rakhal. That's Juli's daughter. I'm not going to kill her father right before her eyes." My rage spilled over then, and I bellowed7, "To hell with your damned Dry-town feuds8 and your filthy9 Toad10 God and all the rest of it!"
Rakhal said harshly, "Rindy. I told you to get out."
"She needn't go." I took a step toward the little girl, a wary11 eye on Rakhal. "I don't know quite what you're up to, but it's nothing for a child to be mixed up in. Do what you damn please. I can settle with you any time.
"The first thing is to get Rindy out of here. She belongs with Juli and, damn it, that's where she's going." I held out my arms to the little girl and said, "It's over, Rindy, whatever he's done to you. Your mother sent me to find you. Don't you want to go to your mother?"
Rakhal made a menacing gesture and warned, "I wouldn't—"
Miellyn darted12 swiftly between us and caught up the child in her arms. Rindy began to struggle noiselessly, kicking and whimpering, but Miellyn took two quick steps, and flung an inner door open. Rakhal took a stride toward her. She whirled on him, fighting to control the furious little girl, and gasped13, "Settle it between you, without the baby watching!"
Through the open door I briefly14 saw a bed, a child's small dresses hanging on a hook, before Miellyn kicked the door shut and I heard a latch15 being fastened. Behind the closed door Rindy broke into angry screams, but I put my back against the door.[106]
"She's right. We'll settle it between the two of us. What have you done to that child?"
"If you thought—" Rakhal stopped himself in midsentence and stood watching me without moving for a minute. Then he laughed.
"You're as stupid as ever, Race. Why, you fool, I knew Juli would run straight to you, if she was scared enough. I knew it would bring you out of hiding. Why, you damned fool!" He stood mocking me, but there was a strained fury, almost a frenzy16 of contempt behind the laughter.
"You filthy coward, Race! Six years hiding in the Terran zone. Six years, and I gave you six months! If you'd had the guts17 to walk out after me, after I rigged that final deal to give you the chance, we could have gone after the biggest thing on Wolf. And we could have brought it off together, instead of spending years spying and dodging18 and hunting! And now, when I finally get you out of hiding, all you want to do is run back where you'll be safe! I thought you had more guts!"
"Not for Evarin's dirty work!"
Rakhal swore hideously19. "Evarin! Do you really believe—I might have known he'd get to you too! That girl—and you've managed to wreck21 all I did there, too!" Suddenly, so swiftly my eyes could hardly follow, he whipped out his skean and came at me. "Get away from that door!"
I stood my ground. "You'll have to kill me first. And I won't fight you, Rakhal. We'll settle this, but we'll do it my way for once, like Earthmen."
"I won't do it, Rakhal." I stood and defied him. I had outmaneuvered Dry-towners in a shegri bet. I knew Rakhal, and I knew he would not knife an unarmed man. "We fought once with the kifirgh and it didn't settle anything. This time we'll do it my way. I threw my skean away before I came here. I won't fight."
He thrust at me. Even I could see that the blow was a feint, and I had a flashing, instantaneous memory of Dallisa's threat to drive the knife through my palms. But even while I commanded myself to stand steady, sheer reflex threw me forward, grabbing at his wrist and the knife.
Between my grappling hand he twisted and I felt the[107] skean drive home, rip through my jacket with a tearing sound; felt the thin fine line of touch, not pain yet, as it sliced flesh. Then pain burned through my ribs24 and I felt hot blood, and I wanted to kill Rakhal, wanted to get my hands around his throat and kill him with them. And at the same time I was raging because I didn't want to fight the crazy fool, I wasn't even mad at him.
Miellyn flung the door open, shrieking26, and suddenly the Toy, released, was darting27 a small whirring droning horror, straight at Rakhal's eyes. I yelled. But there was no time even to warn him. I bent28 and butted29 him in the stomach. He grunted30, doubled up in agony and fell out of the path of the diving Toy. It whirred in frustration31, hovered32.
He writhed33 in agony, drawing up his knees, clawing at his shirt, while I turned on Miellyn in immense fury—and stopped. Hers had been a move of desperation, an instinctive34 act to restore the balance between a weaponless man and one who had a knife. Rakhal gasped, in a hoarse35 voice with all the breath gone from it:
"Didn't want to use. Rather fight clean—" Then he opened his closed fist and suddenly there were two of the little whirring droning horrors in the room and this one was diving at me, and as I threw myself headlong to the floor the last puzzle-piece fell into place: Evarin had made the same bargain with Rakhal as with me!
I rolled over, dodging. Behind me in the room there was a child's shrill36 scream: "Daddy! Daddy!" And abruptly37 the birds collapsed38 in midair and went limp. They fell to the floor like dropping stones and lay there quivering. Rindy dashed across the room, her small skirts flying, and grabbed up one of the terrible vicious things in either hand.
"Rindy!" I bellowed. "No!"
She stood shaking, tears pouring down her round cheeks, a Toy squeezed tight in either hand. Dark veins39 stood out almost black on her fair temples. "Break them, Daddy," she implored40 in a little thread of a voice. "Break them, quick. I can't hang on...."
Rakhal staggered to his feet like a drunken man and snatched one of the Toys, grinding it under his heel. He made a grab at the second, reeled and drew an anguished[108] breath. He crumpled41 up, clutching at his belly42 where I'd butted him. The bird screamed like a living thing.
Breaking my paralysis43 of horror I leaped up, ran across the room, heedless of the searing pain along my side. I snatched the bird from Rindy and it screamed and shrilled44 and died as my foot crunched45 the tiny feathers. I stamped the still-moving thing into an amorphous46 mess and kept on stamping and smashing until it was only a heap of powder.
Rakhal finally managed to haul himself upright again. His face was so pale that the scars stood out like fresh burns.
"That was a foul47 blow, Race, but I—I know why you did it." He stopped and breathed for a minute. Then he muttered, "You ... saved my life, you know. Did you know you were doing it, when you did it?"
Still breathing hard, I nodded. Done knowingly, it meant an end of blood-feud. However we had wronged each other, whatever the pledges. I spoke48 the words that confirmed it and ended it, finally and forever:
"There is a life between us. Let it stand for a death."
Miellyn was standing49 in the doorway50, her hands pressed to her mouth, her eyes wide. She said shakily, "You're walking around with a knife in your ribs, you fool!"
Rakhal whirled and with a quick jerk he pulled the skean loose. It had simply been caught in my shirtcloak, in a fold of the rough cloth. He pulled it away, glanced at the red tip, then relaxed. "Not more than an inch deep," he said. Then, angrily, defending himself: "You did it yourself, you ape. I was trying to get rid of the knife when you jumped me."
But I knew that and he knew I knew it. He turned and scooped51 up Rindy, who was sobbing52 noisily. She dug her head into his shoulder and I made out her strangled words. "The other Toys hurt you when I was mad at you...." she sobbed53, rubbing her fists against smeared54 cheeks. "I—I wasn't that mad at you. I wasn't that mad at anybody, not even ... him."
Rakhal pressed his hand against his daughter's fleecy hair and said, looking at me over her head, "The Toys activate55 a child's subconscious56 resentments57 against his parents—I found out that much. That also means a child can control them for a few seconds. No adult can." A stranger would[109] have seen no change in his expression, but I knew him, and saw.
"Juli said you threatened Rindy."
He chuckled58 and set the child on her feet. "What else could I say that would have scared Juli enough to send her running to you? Juli's proud, almost as proud as you are, you stiff-necked Son of the Ape." The insult did not sting me now.
"Come on, sit down and let's decide what to do, now we've finished up the old business." He looked remotely at Miellyn and said, "You must be Dallisa's sister? I don't suppose your talents include knowing how to make coffee?"
They didn't, but with Rindy's help Miellyn managed, and while they were out of the room Rakhal explained briefly. "Rindy has rudimentary ESP. I've never had it myself, but I could teach her something—not much—about how to use it. I've been on Evarin's track ever since that business of The Lisse.
"I'd have got it sooner, if you were still working with me, but I couldn't do anything as a Terran agent, and I had to be kicked out so thoroughly59 that the others wouldn't be afraid I was still working secretly for Terra. For a long time I was just chasing rumors60, but when Rindy got big enough to look in the crystals of Nebran, I started making some progress.
"I was afraid to tell Juli; her best safety was the fact that she didn't know anything. She's always been a stranger in the Dry-towns." He paused, then said with honest self-evaluation, "Since I left the Secret Service I've been a stranger there myself."
I asked, "What about Dallisa?"
"Twins have some ESP to each other. I knew Miellyn had gone to the Toymaker. I tried to get Dallisa to find out where Miellyn had gone, learn more about it. Dallisa wouldn't risk it, but Kyral saw me with Dallisa and thought it was Miellyn. That put him on my tail, too, and I had to leave Shainsa. I was afraid of Kyral," he added soberly. "Afraid of what he'd do. I couldn't do anything without Rindy and I knew if I told Juli what I was doing, she'd take Rindy away into the Terran Zone, and I'd be as good as dead."
As he talked, I began to realize how vast a web Evarin[110] and the underground organization of Nebran had spread for us. "Evarin was here today. What for?"
Rakhal laughed mirthlessly. "He's been trying to get us to kill each other off. That would get rid of us both. He wants to turn over Wolf to the nonhumans entirely61, I think he's sincere enough, but"—he spread his hands helplessly—"I can't sit by and see it."
I asked point-blank, "Are you working for Terra? Or for the Dry-towns? Or any of the anti-Terran movements?"
"I'm working for me", he said with a shrug62. "I don't think much of the Terran Empire, but one planet can't fight a galaxy63. Race, I want just one thing. I want the Dry-towns and the rest of Wolf, to have a voice in their own government. Any planet which makes a substantial contribution to galactic science, by the laws of the Terran Empire, is automatically given the status of an independent commonwealth64.
"If a man from the Dry-towns discovers something like a matter transmitter, Wolf gets dominion65 status. But Evarin and his gang want to keep it secret, keep it away from Terra, keep it locked up in places like Canarsa! Somebody has to get it away from them. And if I do it, I get a nice fat bonus, and an official position."
I believed that, where I would have suspected too much protestation of altruism66. Rakhal tossed it aside.
"You've got Miellyn to take you through the transmitters. Go back to the Mastershrine, and tell Evarin that Race Cargill is dead. In the Trade City they think I'm Cargill, and I can get in and out as I choose—sorry if it caused you trouble, but it was the safest thing I could think of—and I'll 'vise Magnusson and have him send soldiers to guard the street-shrines. Evarin might try to escape through one of them."
I shook my head. "Terra hasn't enough men on all Wolf to cover the street-shrines in Charin alone. And I can't go back with Miellyn." I explained. Rakhal pursed his lips and whistled when I described the fight in the transmitter.
"You have all the luck, Cargill! I've never been near enough even to be sure how they work—and I'll bet you didn't begin to understand! We'll have to do it the hard way, then. It won't be the first time we've bulled our way[111] through a tight place! We'll face Evarin in his own hideout! If Rindy's with us, we needn't worry."
I was willing to let him assume command, but I protested, "You'd take a child into that—that—"
"What else can we do? Rindy can control the Toys, and neither you nor I can do that, if Evarin should decide to throw his whole arsenal67 at us." He called Rindy and spoke softly to her. She looked from her father to me, and back again to her father, then smiled and stretched out her hand to me.
Before we ventured into the street, Rakhal scowled68 at the sprawled69 embroideries of Miellyn's robe. He said, "In those things you show up like a snowfall in Shainsa. If you go out in them, you could be mobbed. Hadn't you better get rid of them now?"
"I can't," she protested. "They're the keys to the transmitter!"
Rakhal looked at the conventionalized idols70 with curiosity, but said only, "Cover them up in the street, then. Rindy, find her something to put over her dress."
When we reached the street-shrine, Miellyn admonished71: "Stand close together on the stones. I'm not sure we can all make the jump at once, but we'll have to try."
Rakhal picked up Rindy and hoisted72 her to his shoulder. Miellyn dropped the cloak she had draped over the pattern of the Nebran embroideries, and we crowded close together. The street swayed and vanished and I felt the now-familiar dip and swirl73 of blackness before the world straightened out again. Rindy was whimpering, dabbing74 smeary75 fists at her face. "Daddy, my nose is bleeding...."
Miellyn hastily bent and wiped the blood from the snubby nose. Rakhal gestured impatiently.
"The workroom. Wreck everything you see. Rindy, if anything starts to come at us, you stop it. Stop it quick. And"—he bent and took the little face between his hands—"chiya, remember they're not toys, no matter how pretty they are."
Her grave gray eyes blinked, and she nodded.
Rakhal flung open the door of the elves' workshop with a shout. The ringing of the anvils76 shattered into a thousand[112] dissonances as I kicked over a workbench and half-finished Toys crashed in confusion to the floor.
The dwarfs77 scattered78 like rabbits before our assault of destruction. I smashed tools, filigree79, jewels, stamping everything with my heavy boots. I shattered glass, caught up a hammer and smashed crystals. There was a wild exhilaration to it.
A tiny doll, proportioned like a woman, dashed toward me, shrilling80 in a supersonic shriek25. I put my foot on her and ground the life out of her, and she screamed like a living woman as she came apart. Her blue eyes rolled from her head and lay on the floor watching me. I crushed the blue jewels under my heel.
Rakhal swung a tiny hound by the tail. Its head shattered into debris81 of almost-invisible gears and wheels. I caught up a chair and wrecked82 a glass cabinet of parts with it, swinging furiously. A berserk madness of smashing and breaking had laid hold on me.
I was drunk with crushing and shattering and ruining, when I heard Miellyn scream a warning and turned to see Evarin standing in the doorway. His green cat-eyes blazed with rage. Then he raised both hands in a sudden, sardonic83 gesture, and with a loping, inhuman84 glide85, raced for the transmitter.
"Rindy," Rakhal panted, "can you block the transmitter?"
Instead Rindy shrieked86. "We've got to get out! The roof is falling down! The house is going to fall down on us! The roof, look at the roof!"
I looked up, transfixed by horror. I saw a wide rift87 open, saw the skylight shatter and break, and daylight pouring through the cracking walls, Rakhal snatched Rindy up, protecting her from the falling debris with his head and shoulders. I grabbed Miellyn round the waist and we ran for the rift in the buckling88 wall.
We shoved through just before the roof caved in and the walls collapsed, and we found ourselves standing on a bare grassy89 hillside, looking down in shock and horror as below us, section after section of what had been apparently90 bare hill and rock caved in and collapsed into dusty rubble91.
I didn't understand, but I ran. I ran, my sides aching,[113] blood streaming from the forgotten flesh-wound in my side. Miellyn raced beside me and Rakhal stumbled along, carrying Rindy.
Then the shock of a great explosion rocked the ground, hurling93 me down full length, Miellyn falling on top of me. Rakhal went down on his knees. Rindy was crying loudly. When I could see straight again, I looked down at the hillside.
There was nothing left of Evarin's hideaway or the Mastershrine of Nebran except a great, gaping94 hole, still oozing95 smoke and thick black dust. Miellyn said aloud, dazed, "So that's what he was going to do!"
"Destroyed!" Rakhal raged. "All destroyed! The workrooms, the science of the Toys, the matter transmitter—the minute we find it, it's destroyed!" He beat his fists furiously. "Our one chance to learn—"
"We were lucky to get out alive," said Miellyn quietly. "Where on the planet are we, I wonder?"
I looked down the hillside, and stared in amazement98. Spread out on the hillside below us lay the Kharsa, topped by the white skyscraper99 of the HQ.
"I'll be damned," I said, "right here. We're home. Rakhal, you can go down and make your peace with the Terrans, and Juli. And you, Miellyn—" Before the others, I could not say what I was thinking, but I put my hand on her shoulder and kept it there. She smiled, shakily, with a hint of her old mischief100. "I can't go into the Terran Zone looking like this, can I? Give me that comb again. Rakhal, give me your shirtcloak, my robes are torn."
"You vain, stupid female, worrying about a thing like that at a time like this!" Rakhal's look was like murder. I put my comb in her hand, then suddenly saw something in the symbols across her breasts. Before this I had seen only the conventionalized and intricate glyph of the Toad God. But now—
I reached out and ripped the cloth away.
"Cargill!" she protested angrily, crimsoning101, covering her bare breasts with both hands. "Is this the place? And before a child, too!"[114]
I hardly heard. "Look!" I exclaimed. "Rakhal, look at the symbols embroidered102 into the glyph of the God! You can read the old nonhuman glyphs. You did it in the city of The Lisse. Miellyn said they were the key to the transmitters! I'll bet the formula is written out there for anyone to read!
"Anyone, that is, who can read it! I can't, but I'll bet the formula equations for the transmitters are carved on every Toad God glyph on Wolf. Rakhal, it makes sense. There are two ways of hiding something. Either keep it locked away, or hide it right out in plain sight. Whoever bothers even to look at a conventionalized Toad God? There are so many billions of them...."
He bent his head over the embroideries, and when he looked up his face was flushed. "I believe—by the chains of Sharra, I believe you have it, Race! It may take years to work out the glyphs, but I'll do it, or die trying!" His scarred and hideous20 face looked almost handsome in exultation103, and I grinned at him.
"If Juli leaves enough of you, once she finds out how you maneuvered23 her. Look, Rindy's fallen asleep on the grass there. Poor kid, we'd better get her down to her mother."
"Right." Rakhal thrust the precious embroidery104 into his shirtcloak, then cradled his sleeping daughter in his arms. I watched him with a curious emotion I could not identify. It seemed to pinpoint105 some great change, either in Rakhal or myself. It's not difficult to visualize106 one's sister with children, but there was something, some strange incongruity107 in the sight of Rakhal carrying the little girl, carefully tucking her up in a fold of his cloak to keep the sharp breeze off her face.
Miellyn was limping in her thin sandals, and she shivered. I asked, "Cold?"
"No, but—I don't believe Evarin is dead, I'm afraid he got away."
For a minute the thought dimmed the luster108 of the morning. Then I shrugged109. "He's probably buried in that big hole up there." But I knew I would never be sure.
We walked abreast110, my arm around the weary, stumbling woman, and Rakhal said softly at last, "Like old times."[115]
It wasn't old times, I knew. He would know it too, once his exultation sobered. I had outgrown111 my love for intrigue112, and I had the feeling this was Rakhal's last adventure. It was going to take him, as he said, years to work out the equations for the transmitter. And I had a feeling my own solid, ordinary desk was going to look good to me in the morning.
But I knew now that I'd never run away from Wolf again. It was my own beloved sun that was rising. My sister was waiting for me down below, and I was bringing back her child. My best friend was walking at my side. What more could a man want?
If the memory of dark, poison-berry eyes was to haunt me in nightmares, they did not come into the waking world. I looked at Miellyn, took her slender unmanacled hand in mine, and smiled as we walked through the gates of the city. Now, after all my years on Wolf, I understood the desire to keep their women under lock and key that was its ancient custom. I vowed113 to myself as we went that I should waste no time finding a fetter114 shop and having forged therein the perfect steel chains that should bind115 my love's wrists to my key forever.[116]
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1
fleetingly
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| adv.飞快地，疾驰地 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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smear
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| v.涂抹；诽谤，玷污；n.污点；诽谤，污蔑 | |
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embroideries
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| 刺绣( embroidery的名词复数 )； 刺绣品； 刺绣法 | |
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curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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bellowed
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| v.发出吼叫声，咆哮（尤指因痛苦）( bellow的过去式和过去分词 )；（愤怒地）说出（某事），大叫 | |
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feuds
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| n.长期不和，世仇( feud的名词复数 ) | |
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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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toad
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| n.蟾蜍，癞蛤蟆 | |
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wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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latch
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| n.门闩，窗闩；弹簧锁 | |
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frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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guts
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| v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠 | |
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dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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hideously
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| adv.可怕地，非常讨厌地 | |
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hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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wreck
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stinking
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| adj.臭的，烂醉的，讨厌的v.散发出恶臭( stink的现在分词 )；发臭味；名声臭；糟透 | |
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maneuvered
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的过去式和过去分词 )；操纵 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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butted
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| 对接的 | |
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grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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33
writhed
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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34
instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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35
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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36
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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37
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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38
collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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39
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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40
implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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42
belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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43
paralysis
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| n.麻痹(症)；瘫痪(症) | |
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44
shrilled
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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45
crunched
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| v.嘎吱嘎吱地咬嚼( crunch的过去式和过去分词 )；嘎吱作响；（快速大量地）处理信息；数字捣弄 | |
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46
amorphous
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| adj.无定形的 | |
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47
foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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48
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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49
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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50
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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51
scooped
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| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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52
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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53
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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54
smeared
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| 弄脏； 玷污； 涂抹； 擦上 | |
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55
activate
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| vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用 | |
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56
subconscious
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| n./adj.潜意识(的)，下意识(的) | |
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57
resentments
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| （因受虐待而）愤恨，不满，怨恨( resentment的名词复数 ) | |
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58
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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61
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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62
shrug
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| v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等) | |
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63
galaxy
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| n.星系；银河系；一群(杰出或著名的人物) | |
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commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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altruism
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| n.利他主义，不自私 | |
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arsenal
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| n.兵工厂，军械库 | |
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68
scowled
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| 怒视，生气地皱眉( scowl的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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70
idols
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| 偶像( idol的名词复数 )； 受崇拜的人或物； 受到热爱和崇拜的人或物； 神像 | |
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71
admonished
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| v.劝告( admonish的过去式和过去分词 )；训诫；（温和地）责备；轻责 | |
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72
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
swirl
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| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
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74
dabbing
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| 石面凿毛，灰泥抛毛 | |
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75
smeary
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| 弄脏的 | |
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76
anvils
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| n.（铁）砧( anvil的名词复数 )；砧骨 | |
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77
dwarfs
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| n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式） | |
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scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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79
filigree
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| n.金银丝做的工艺品；v.用金银细丝饰品装饰；用华而不实的饰品装饰；adj.金银细丝工艺的 | |
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80
shrilling
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| （声音）尖锐的，刺耳的，高频率的( shrill的现在分词 )； 凄厉 | |
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81
debris
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| n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片 | |
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82
wrecked
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| adj.失事的，遇难的 | |
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83
sardonic
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| adj.嘲笑的，冷笑的，讥讽的 | |
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84
inhuman
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| adj.残忍的，不人道的，无人性的 | |
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85
glide
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| n./v.溜，滑行；(时间)消逝 | |
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86
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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87
rift
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| n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入 | |
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88
buckling
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| 扣住 | |
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89
grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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90
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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91
rubble
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| n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾 | |
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92
hoarsely
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| adv.嘶哑地 | |
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93
hurling
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| n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投，用力掷( hurl的现在分词 )；大声叫骂 | |
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94
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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95
oozing
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| v.（浓液等）慢慢地冒出，渗出( ooze的现在分词 )；使（液体）缓缓流出；（浓液）渗出，慢慢流出 | |
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96
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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97
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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98
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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99
skyscraper
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| n.摩天大楼 | |
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100
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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101
crimsoning
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| 变为深红色（crimson的现在分词形式） | |
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102
embroidered
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| adj．绣花的 | |
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103
exultation
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| n.狂喜，得意 | |
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104
embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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105
pinpoint
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| vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置 | |
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106
visualize
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| vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想 | |
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107
incongruity
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| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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108
luster
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| n.光辉；光泽，光亮；荣誉 | |
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109
shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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110
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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111
outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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112
intrigue
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| vt.激起兴趣，迷住；vi.耍阴谋；n.阴谋，密谋 | |
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113
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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114
fetter
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| n./vt.脚镣，束缚 | |
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115
bind
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| vt.捆，包扎；装订；约束；使凝固；vi.变硬 | |
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