Silas sat behind the wheel of the black Audi the Teacher had arranged for him and gazed out at the great Church of Saint-Sulpice. Lit from beneath by banks of floodlights, the church's two bell towers rose like stalwart sentinels above the building's long body. On either flank, a shadowy row of sleek buttresses jutted out like the ribs of a beautiful beast.
The heathens used a house of God to conceal their keystone. Again the brotherhood had confirmed their legendary reputation for illusion and deceit. Silas was looking forward to finding the keystone and giving it to the Teacher so they could recover what the brotherhood had long ago stolen from the faithful.
How powerful that will make Opus Dei.
Parking the Audi on the deserted Place Saint-Sulpice, Silas exhaled, telling himself to clear his mind for the task at hand. His broad back still ached from the corporal mortification he had endured earlier today, and yet the pain was inconsequential compared with the anguish of his life before Opus Dei had saved him.
Still, the memories haunted his soul.
Release your hatred, Silas commanded himself. Forgive those who trespassed against you.
Looking up at the stone towers of Saint-Sulpice, Silas fought that familiar undertow... that force that often dragged his mind back in time, locking him once again in the prison that had been his world as a young man. The memories of purgatory came as they always did, like a tempest to his senses... the reek of rotting cabbage, the stench of death, human urine and feces. The cries of hopelessness against the howling wind of the Pyrenees and the soft sobs of forgotten men.
Floodlight 泛光灯
Stalwart 健壮的
Sleek 光滑的
Buttress 桥墩
Undertow 水下逆流
Stench 恶臭
第十章
塞拉斯坐在导师早已为他安排好的玄色奥迪轿车的驾驶座上，看着窗外的圣叙尔皮斯教堂。几排泛光灯从下面照射上去，教堂的两个钟楼像两个威武高大的哨兵矗立在教堂长长的躯体之上。两翼阴影处各有一排光滑的扶垛突出出来，像一个俊秀的胸脯上的根根肋骨。
异教徒利用上帝的圣所来藏匿他们的拱顶石。他们的"兄弟会"再次证明了他们的确如人们盛传的那样欺世盗名。塞拉斯期待着找到拱顶石并把它交给导师，以便他们可以重新找到兄弟会很早以前从信徒那里偷走的东西。那会使天主事工会多么强大啊！
塞拉斯把奥迪车停在空无一人的圣叙尔皮斯教堂的广场上，喘了口气，并告诫自己要打消杂念，齐心专心一意地完成手头上的这个任务。由于他本日早些时候承受的"肉体惩罚"，以是他宽大的后背现在还在痛，但这与他未被天主教工会拯救之前所受的煎熬比较太微不足道了。
在他灵魂深处依然有挥之不去的影象。
放下你的仇恨，塞拉斯命令自己，宽恕那些搪突你的人。
仰望着圣叙尔皮斯教堂的石塔，此时他又在和那股转头浪抗争，那是一股把他的思绪拉回过去的力量，使他想起曾被关进的缧绁---他年轻时的天下。痛楚的影象总是像狂风雨一样冲击着他的思想……糜烂的大白菜的臭气，去世尸、人尿和粪便的恶臭，无望的哭泣和着比利牛斯山脉咆哮的狂风，还有被遗忘的男人的抽泣声。
