Ⅲ 冰雨的风暴 Chapter55 琼恩
JON
他们醒来时看见鼹鼠村燃烧的烟雾。
They woke to the smoke of Mole’s Town burning.
国王塔顶，琼恩·雪诺倚在伊蒙学士做的衬垫拐杖上，注视着絮絮灰烟升起。由于琼恩的逃跑，斯迪失去了偷袭黑城堡的希望，即便如此，也没必要如此大张旗鼓。你或能杀尽我们，他心想，但没人会在睡梦中死于床上。至少我做到了这点。
Atop the King’s Tower, Jon Snow leaned on the padded crutch that Maester Aemon had given him and watched the grey plume rise. Styr had lost all hope of taking Castle Black unawares when Jon escaped him, yet even so, he need not have warned of his approach so bluntly. You may kill us, he reflected, but no one will be butchered in their beds. That much I did, at least.
将体重移到伤腿上时，仍然疼得像火烧。那天早晨，他需要克莱达斯帮忙才能换上新洗的黑衣，系好靴带，等穿戴完毕，已开始渴望罂粟花奶的慰藉。他抵抗住诱惑，喝下半杯安眠酒，嚼了几口柳树皮，拄起拐杖走出去。风云岗的烽火台已经点燃，守夜人需要每一位人手。
His leg still hurt like blazes when he put his weight on it. He’d needed Clydas to help him don his fresh-washed blacks and lace up his boots that morning, and by the time they were done he’d wanted to drown himself in the milk of the poppy. Instead he had settled for half a cup of dreamwine, a chew of willow bark, and the crutch. The beacon was burning on Weatherback Ridge, and the Night’s Watch had need of every man.
“我可以打。”他们试图阻止他时，他坚持。
“I can fight,” he insisted when they tried to stop him.
“腿好了，对吗？”诺伊哼了一声，“不介意我轻轻踢一下吧，嗯？”
“Your leg’s healed, is it?” Noye snorted. “You won’t mind me giving it a little kick, then?”
“别。它是有点僵，但慢慢走还撑得住。我可以打，而你需要我。”
“I’d sooner you didn’t. It’s stiff, but I can hobble around well enough, and stand and fight if you have need of me.”
“我需要每个人，只要他知道该用长矛的哪端去刺野人。”
“I have need of every man who knows which end of the spear to stab into the wildlings.”
“尖的那端。”记得自己曾跟小妹讲过类似的话。
“The pointy end.” Jon had told his little sister something like that once, he remembered.
诺伊摸摸下巴上的胡茬。“也许可以吧。好，我们会把你安排在某座塔上，带把长弓射击敌人，但如果你他妈的从上面摔落，千万别来找我哭诉。”
Noye rubbed the bristle on his chin. “Might be you’ll do. We’ll put you on a tower with a longbow, but if you bloody well fall off don’t come crying to me.”
国王大道一路往南延伸，穿过多石的褐色原野和冷风摧残的丘陵。日落之前，马格拿便会带着他的瑟恩族人沿这条路杀来，手持斧子和长矛，背负青铜与皮革制成的盾牌。山羊格里格、科特、大疖子及其他人也会来。还有耶哥蕊特。野人们从来不是他的朋友，他不允许他们成为自己的朋友，但是她……
He could see the kingsroad wending its way south through stony brown fields and over windswept hills. The Magnar would be coming up that road before the day was done, his Thenns marching behind him with axes and spears in their hands and their bronze-and-leather shields on their backs. Grigg the Goat, Quort, Big Boil, and the rest will be coming as well. And Ygritte. The wildlings had never been his friends, he had not allowed them to be his friends, but her …
大腿肌肉被她的箭贯穿之处阵阵抽痛。他记得那老人的眼睛，记得闪电在头顶轰然炸开时，喉咙里涌出黑乎乎的血，但记得最清楚的是那个洞穴，火炬光芒下她赤裸的身体，以及她的嘴在自己嘴里的滋味。耶哥蕊特，不要过来，到南方去掠袭吧，或是躲进某个圆塔，你是那么的喜欢这些圆塔。这里，只有死亡。
He could feel the throb of pain where her arrow had gone through the meat and muscle of his thigh. He remembered the old man’s eyes too, and the black blood rushing from his throat as the storm cracked overhead. But he remembered the grotto best of all, the look of her naked in the torchlight, the taste of her mouth when it opened under his. Ygritte, stay away. Go south and raid, go hide in one of those roundtowers you liked so well. You’ll find nothing here but death.
院子对面，古老的燧石兵营顶上也有个弓箭手，此刻他解开裤子，正往城垛外撒尿。穆利，他从对方油腻腻的橙色头发认出来。其他屋顶和塔楼上也能看到黑衣人，但其中十个有九个是稻草做的。唐纳·诺伊称它们为“稻草哨兵”。讽刺的是，我们却是乌鸦，琼恩暗想，而且大都吓得够呛。
Across the yard, one of the bowmen on the roof of the old Flint Barracks had unlaced his breeches and was pissing through a crenel. Mully, he knew from the man’s greasy orange hair. Men in black cloaks were visible on other roofs and tower tops as well, though nine of every ten happened to be made of straw. “The scarecrow sentinels,” Donal Noye called them. Only we’re the crows, Jon mused, and most of us were scared enough.
不管名称如何，稻草兵是伊蒙学士的主意。既然储藏室里有许许多多的裤子、上衣和背心闲置，干吗不在其中塞上稻草，肩头披挂斗篷，让它们立在那儿放哨呢？经过诺伊的布置，每座塔楼和半数窗户都有它们的身影，有些甚至握持长矛，或者胳膊底架着十字弓。希望瑟恩人远远看到，便断定黑城堡防御充分，放弃攻击的念头。
Whatever you called them, the straw soldiers had been Maester Aemon’s notion. They had more breeches and jerkins and tunics in the storerooms than they’d had men to fill them, so why not stuff some with straw, drape a cloak around their shoulders, and set them to standing watches? Noye had placed them on every tower and in half the windows. Some were even clutching spears, or had crossbows cocked under their arms. The hope was that the Thenns would see them from afar and decide that Castle Black was too well defended to attack.
国王塔顶上六个稻草人跟琼恩在一起，还有两个真正的弟兄。聋子迪克·佛拉德坐在城垛上，有条不紊地给十字弓的部件清洗上油，以确保转轮运作顺畅，而那个来自旧镇的青年躁动不安地在胸墙附近徘徊，拨弄稻草人的衣服。也许他以为若将它们的姿势摆得恰到好处，就能吓阻敌人；又或者他跟我一样，被等待折磨得神经紧张。
Jon had six scarecrows sharing the roof of the King’s Tower with him, along with two actual breathing brothers. Deaf Dick Follard sat in a crenel, methodically cleaning and oiling the mechanism of his crossbow to make sure the wheel turned smoothly, while the Oldtown boy wandered restlessly around the parapets, fussing with the clothes on straw men. Maybe he thinks they will fight better if they’re posed just right. Or maybe this waiting is fraying his nerves the way it’s fraying mine.
这孩子号称十八岁，比琼恩大，实际却比夏日的青草还嫩。他们叫他“纱丁”——尽管对方已换上守夜人的羊毛服、锁甲和熟皮甲——沿用他打小在妓院出生长大得到的名字。他有一双黑眼睛，皮肤细嫩，卷发乌黑，漂亮得像个女孩，然而经过黑城堡的半年训练，手已变得粗糙，诺伊说他用十字弓还过得去。但他是否有勇气面对即将来临的一切，嗯……
The boy claimed to be eighteen, older than Jon, but he was green as summer grass for all that. Satin, they called him, even in the wool and mail and boiled leather of the Night’s Watch; the name he’d gotten in the brothel where he’d been born and raised. He was pretty as a girl with his dark eyes, soft skin, and raven’s ringlets. Half a year at Castle Black had toughened up his hands, however, and Noye said he was passable with a crossbow. Whether he had the courage to face what was coming, though …
琼恩拄着拐杖在塔顶走动。国王塔不是最高点——这一荣耀属于尖细高耸、濒临崩溃的长枪塔，首席工匠奥赛尔·亚威克认为它随时可能倒塌；也不是最坚固的堡垒——国王大道旁的守卫塔更难对付。但它够高，够坚固，且占据长城背面的有利地形，俯瞰着城门和木头阶梯底部。
Jon used the crutch to limp across the tower top. The King’s Tower was not the castle’s tallest—the high, slim, crumbling Lance held that honor, though Othell Yarwyck had been heard to say it might topple any day. Nor was the King’s Tower strongest—the Tower of Guards beside the kingsroad would be a tougher nut to crack. But it was tall enough, strong enough, and well placed beside the Wall, overlooking the gate and the foot of the wooden stair.
琼恩第一次见到黑城堡时，很奇怪会有人傻到造一座没有围墙的城堡，这要如何防御呢？
The first time he had seen Castle Black with his own eyes, Jon had wondered why anyone would be so foolish as to build a castle without walls. How could it be defended?
“无法防御，”叔叔告诉他，“这正是关键。守夜人发誓不偏不倚，不介入境内任何纷争。然而千百年来，某些骄傲压倒智慧的总司令却背弃了誓言，野心作祟，差点让我们完全毁灭。伦赛·海塔尔总司令试图将位置留给私生子，罗德里克·菲林特想让自己当上塞外之王，崔斯坦·穆德、‘疯子’马柯·蓝肯菲尔，罗宾·希山……你知道六百年前，风雪门和长夜堡的指挥官彼此宣战吗？总司令试图阻止，他们反而联合起来谋杀他。临冬城的史塔克家族不得不出面干预……摘了他俩的脑袋。行动很容易成功，因为各要塞面南毫无防守。在杰奥·莫尔蒙之前，守夜人军团已有过九百九十六任总司令，他们大都英勇正直……却也有少数懦夫和笨蛋，专横的独裁者，甚至疯子。我们能够生存，是因为七国的领主和国王们明白，不管由谁领导，我们对他们都构不成威胁。唯一的敌人在北方，而面北我们有长城。”
“It can’t,” his uncle told him. “That is the point. The Night’s Watch is pledged to take no part in the quarrels of the realm. Yet over the centuries certain Lords Commander, more proud than wise, forgot their vows and near destroyed us all with their ambitions. Lord Commander Runcel Hightower tried to bequeathe the Watch to his bastard son. Lord Commander Rodrik Flint thought to make himself King-beyond-the-Wall. Tristan Mudd, Mad Marq Rankenfell, Robin Hill … did you know that six hundred years ago, the commanders at Snowgate and the Nightfort went to war against each other? And when the Lord Commander tried to stop them, they joined forces to murder him? The Stark in Winterfell had to take a hand … and both their heads. Which he did easily, because their strongholds were not defensible. The Night’s Watch had nine hundred and ninety-six Lords Commander before Jeor Mormont, most of them men of courage and honor … but we have had cowards and fools as well, our tyrants and our madmen. We survive because the lords and kings of the Seven Kingdoms know that we pose no threat to them, no matter who should lead us. Our only foes are to the north, and to the north we have the Wall.”
然而现在，敌人越过长城，从南方杀来，琼恩心想，七国的领主和国王们却都忘了我们。人为刀俎，我为鱼肉。没有围墙，黑城堡是守不住的，唐纳·诺伊跟所有人一样明白。“城堡对他们来说没什么用处，”武器师傅告诉他小小的守备队，“厨房，大厅，马厩，甚至塔楼……让他们统统占去。我们尽量把兵器库搬空，运到长城顶上，然后坚守在城门附近。”
Only now those foes have gotten past the Wall to come up from the south, Jon reflected, and the lords and kings of the Seven Kingdoms have forgotten us. We are caught between the hammer and the anvil. Without a wall Castle Black could not be held; Donal Noye knew that as well as any. “The castle does them no good,” the armorer told his little garrison. “Kitchens, common hall, stables, even the towers … let them take it all. We’ll empty the armory and move what stores we can to the top of the Wall, and make our stand around the gate.”
于是，黑城堡终于有了一道所谓的墙，一堆十尺高排成新月形的障碍物，由各种储藏品构成：桶桶钉子和腌羊肉、柳条箱、捆捆黑毛织品、堆积的圆木、锯好的柴火、淬硬的尖桩，还有袋袋谷物。简陋的壁垒圈起两样最值得守卫的东西——通往北方的城门和登上城墙的巨大之字形木楼梯，楼梯如一道蜿蜒曲折的闪电沿墙攀升，踏脚的木梁有树干那么粗，深陷在冰层里。
So Castle Black had a wall of sorts at last, a crescent-shaped barricade ten feet high made of stores; casks of nails and barrels of salt mutton, crates, bales of black broadcloth, stacked logs, sawn timbers, fire-hardened stakes, and sacks and sacks of grain. The crude rampart enclosed the two things most worth defending; the gate to the north, and the foot of the great wooden switchback stair that clawed and climbed its way up the face of the Wall like a drunken thunderbolt, supported by wooden beams as big as tree trunks driven deep into the ice.
琼恩看见最后几个鼹鼠村民仍在漫长的攀爬过程中，弟兄们正加以催促。葛兰怀抱一个小男童，而派普在两级楼梯下面扶持着一位老人，而最老的村民们仍在下面等待铁笼重新放下。有位母亲拖着两个孩子，一手牵一个，另一个大点的男孩越过她，向顶端跑去。在他们头上两百尺，天蓝苏和梅利安娜小姐（她不是什么小姐，她所有的朋友一致同意）站在楼梯口，望向南方。无疑对烟雾，她们比他看得更清楚。琼恩想到那些没有选择逃离的村民，总有一些人不愿逃跑，要么太固执，要么太愚蠢，要么太勇敢，宁愿留下来战斗、躲藏，甚或屈膝投降。也许瑟恩人会在匆忙间放过他们吧。
The last few moles were still making the long climb, Jon saw, urged on by his brothers. Grenn was carrying a little boy in his arms, while Pyp, two flights below, let an old man lean upon his shoulder. The oldest villagers still waited below for the cage to make its way back down to them. He saw a mother pulling along two children, one on either hand, as an older boy ran past her up the steps. Two hundred feet above them, Sky Blue Su and Lady Meliana (who was no lady, all her friends agreed) stood on a landing, looking south. They had a better view of the smoke than he did, no doubt. Jon wondered about the villagers who had chosen not to flee. There were always a few, too stubborn or too stupid or too brave to run, a few who preferred to fight or hide or bend the knee. Maybe the Thenns would spare them.
应该先发制人的，他心想，若有五十名装备良马的游骑兵，就能半路将敌人冲散。然而别说五十名游骑兵，就连马也凑不到半数。守卫们还没返回，根本无从知道他们到底在哪儿，甚至不清楚诺伊派去的骑手有没有找到人。
The thing to do would be to take the attack to them, he thought. With fifty rangers well mounted, we could cut them apart on the road. They did not have fifty rangers, though, nor half as many horses. The garrison had not returned, and there was no way to know just where they were, or even whether the riders that Noye had sent out had reached them.
而今只有我们是长城的守卫，琼恩告诉自己，瞧瞧我们吧。正如唐纳·诺伊警告的那样，波文·马尔锡留下的弟兄都是老弱病残，以及仍在受训的男孩。他看见他们中有些人正奋力将木桶推上楼梯，另一些在路障边把守：矮胖的老“木桶”，动作一如既往的缓慢；“省靴”使劲拖着木头假腿一跳一跳地往前走；“半疯伊希”认为自己是傻瓜佛罗里安重生；还有多恩人迪利、玫瑰林的红埃林、小亨利（五十好几岁）、老亨利（七十好几岁）、“毛人”哈尔及女泉镇的麻子佩特等等。其中几个看到琼恩从国王塔上望下来，便朝他挥手，可多数人扭过头去。他们仍认为我是变色龙。这是一杯苦酒，但琼恩怪不得他们。毕竟，他是个私生子，大家都认为私生子的血脉出自欲望与欺骗，天生便是反复无常，背信弃义，而他在黑城堡树立的敌人跟结交的朋友一样多……譬如雷斯特就是其中之一。琼恩曾威胁除非他放过山姆威尔·塔利，否则便要让白灵撕开他的喉咙，这事对方没有忘记。此刻他正将干树叶耙到楼梯底下，分成一大堆一大堆，但时不时停下片刻，恶狠狠地瞪琼恩一眼。
We are the garrison, Jon told himself, and look at us. The brothers Bowen Marsh had left behind were old men, cripples, and green boys, just as Donal Noye had warned him. He could see some wrestling barrels up the steps, others on the barricade; stout old Kegs, as slow as ever, Spare Boot hopping along briskly on his carved wooden leg, half-mad Easy who fancied himself Florian the Fool reborn, Dornish Dilly, Red Alyn of the Rosewood, Young Henly (well past fifty), Old Henly (well past seventy), Hairy Hal, Spotted Pate of Maidenpool. A couple of them saw Jon looking down from atop the King’s Tower and waved up at him. Others turned away. They still think me a turncloak. That was a bitter draft to drink, but Jon could not blame them. He was a bastard, after all. Everyone knew that bastards were wanton and treacherous by nature, having been born of lust and deceit. And he had made as many enemies as friends at Castle Black … Rast, for one. Jon had once threatened to have Ghost rip his throat out unless he stopped tormenting Samwell Tarly, and Rast did not forget things like that. He was raking dry leaves into piles under the stairs just now, but every so often he stopped long enough to give Jon a nasty look.
“不对，”唐纳·诺伊在楼梯下冲三个鼹鼠村民喊，“沥青送去起重机，油料放到上部楼梯，弩箭送往第四、第五和第六层平台，长矛送往第一、第二层。猪油堆在楼梯下面，对，那儿，木板后面。肉桶运去路障。快点，你们这帮长麻子的农民，快点！”
“No,” Donal Noye roared at three of the Mole’s Town men, down below. “The pitch goes to the hoist, the oil up the steps, crossbow bolts to the fourth, fifth, and sixth landings, spears to first and second. Stack the lard under the stair, yes, there, behind the planks. The casks of meat are for the barricade. Now, you poxy plow pushers, NOW!”
他有领主的嗓门，琼恩心想。父亲常说，指挥官的肺跟他挥剑的手一样重要。“如果发号施令时别人听不到，任你三头六臂也没用。”艾德公爵教诲儿子们，因此他过去常和罗柏爬到临冬城的塔楼上，隔着庭院互相呼喊。但他俩的声音加起来尚远不如唐纳·诺伊。鼹鼠村民们很惧怕他，也难怪，因为武器师傅总威胁要拧下他们的脑袋。
He has a lord’s voice, Jon thought. His father had always said that in battle a captain’s lungs were as important as his sword arm. “It does not matter how brave or brilliant a man is, if his commands cannot be heard,” Lord Eddard told his sons, so Robb and he used to climb the towers of Winterfell to shout at each other across the yard. Donal Noye could have drowned out both of them. The moles all went in terror of him, and rightfully so, since he was always threatening to rip their heads off.
四分之三的村民相信琼恩的警告，来到黑城堡避难。诺伊宣布，只要有力气拿起长矛或者挥动斧子的人，都得帮助防御路障，否则就他妈的滚回家去自己对付瑟恩人。他倾尽库存，将精良的兵器交到他们手中：双刃大斧、锋利匕首、长剑、钉头锤、尖刺流星锤、镶钉皮衣和锁甲、护胫甲保护腿部、护喉撑住脑袋，装备妥当后，他们中有些人甚至看起来有几分战士的模样。假设你在昏暗光线下匆匆一瞥的话。
Three-quarters of the village had taken Jon’s warning to heart and come to Castle Black for refuge. Noye had decreed that every man still spry enough to hold a spear or swing an axe would help defend the barricade, else they could damn well go home and take their chances with the Thenns. He had emptied the armory to put good steel in their hands; big double-bladed axes, razor-sharp daggers, longswords, maces, spiked morningstars. Clad in studded leather jerkins and mail hauberks, with greaves for their legs and gorgets to keep their heads on their shoulders, a few of them even looked like soldiers. In a bad light. If you squint.
诺伊也让妇女和儿童参加工作。太过年轻尚不能战斗的人负责提水和照料火堆，鼹鼠村的接生婆协助克莱达斯和伊蒙学士处理伤员，“三指”哈布一下子有了这许多帮忙照看火炉、搅拌锅子和切洋葱的助手，都不知该拿他们怎么办了。有两个妓女甚至提出要参战，而使用十字弓的技巧竟然确实不错，因而被安排在楼梯上四十尺高处。
Noye had put the women and children to work as well. Those too young to fight would carry water and tend the fires, the Mole’s Town midwife would assist Clydas and Maester Aemon with any wounded, and Three-Finger Hobb suddenly had more spit boys, kettle stirrers, and onion choppers than he knew what to do with. Two of the whores had even offered to fight, and had shown enough skill with the crossbow to be given a place on the steps forty feet up.
“好冷。”纱丁脸颊通红，双手藏在斗篷里，夹在腋窝下。
“It’s cold.” Satin stood with his hands tucked into his armpits under his cloak. His cheeks were bright red.
琼恩让自己微笑，“霜雪之牙更冷呢，毕竟深秋了嘛。”
Jon made himself smile. “The Frostfangs are cold. This is a brisk autumn day.”
“我希望自己永远不要见到霜雪之牙。你知道吗？我认识一个旧镇女孩，她喜欢在红酒里面加冰。我想那是最适合冰的地方。红酒里面。”纱丁皱眉望向南方，“你觉得稻草哨兵把他们吓跑了吗，大人？”
“I hope I never see the Frostfangs then. I knew a girl in Oldtown who liked to ice her wine. That’s the best place for ice, I think. In wine.” Satin glanced south, frowned. “You think the scarecrow sentinels scared them off, my lord?”
“但愿是吧。”这是有可能的，琼恩猜测……但更有可能野人们仅仅是在鼹鼠村里多逗留了一会儿，烧杀奸淫。或许斯迪在等待夜幕降临，以便在黑暗的掩护下进军。
“We can hope.” It was possible, Jon supposed … but more likely the wildlings had simply paused for a bit of rape and plunder in Mole’s Town. Or maybe Styr was waiting for nightfall, to move up under cover of darkness.
正午过后，国王大道上仍旧没有瑟恩人的踪影。琼恩听见塔内传来脚步声，呆子欧文突然从地板门下走出，爬楼梯爬得脸上红彤彤的。他一条胳膊下夹着一篮小圆面包，另一条胳膊底下是一轮奶酪，手里还摇摇晃晃地提着一袋洋葱。“哈布说你们耽搁久了，得吃东西。”
Midday came and went, with still no sign of Thenns on the kingsroad. Jon heard footsteps inside the tower, though, and Owen the Oaf popped up out of the trapdoor, red-faced from the climb. He had a basket of buns under one arm, a wheel of cheese under the other, a bag of onions dangling from one hand. “Hobb said to feed you, in case you’re stuck up here awhile.”
也许这就是最后一餐。“替我们谢谢他，欧文。”
That, or for our last meal. “Thank him for us, Owen.”
迪克·佛拉德聋得像岩石，但鼻子好使。圆面包刚出炉，还带着温热，他伸手从篮子里掏出一个，并找到一罐黄油，用匕首抹了些。“夹的葡萄干，”他愉快地宣布，“还有果仁。”他说话含含糊糊，好在习惯之后就容易听明白。
Dick Follard was deaf as a stone, but his nose worked well enough. The buns were still warm from the oven when he went digging in the basket and plucked one out. He found a crock of butter as well, and spread some with his dagger. “Raisins,” he announced happily. “Nuts, too.” His speech was thick, but easy enough to understand once you got used to it.
“你把我那份也吃了吧，”纱丁道，“我不饿。”
“You can have mine too,” said Satin. “I’m not hungry.”
“吃下去，”琼恩告诉他，“不知何时才有下一顿。”他自己拿了两个圆面包。果仁是松子，此外有葡萄干和一点干苹果。
“Eat,” Jon told him. “There’s no knowing when you’ll have another chance.” He took two buns himself. The nuts were pine nuts, and besides the raisins there were bits of dried apple.
“野人今天会来吗，雪诺大人？”欧文问。
“Will the wildlings come today, Lord Snow?” Owen asked.
“如果他们来了，你会知道的，”琼恩说，“注意听号角声。”
“You’ll know if they do,” said Jon. “Listen for the horns.”
“两声。两声代表野人逼近。”欧文长得很高，浅黄头发，性情温和，是个不知疲倦的工人，做起木工来灵巧得令人吃惊，守夜人军团中投石机之类的东西就由他负责保养维护。但他会很高兴地告诉你，他母亲在他还是个婴儿时，不小心摔了他的脑袋，因此一半的智力从耳朵孔漏了出去。
“Two. Two is for wildlings.” Owen was tall, towheaded, and amiable, a tireless worker and surprisingly deft when it came to working wood and fixing catapults and the like, but as he’d gladly tell you, his mother had dropped him on his head when he was a baby, and half his wits had leaked out through his ear.
“你记得该上哪儿去吗？”琼恩问他。
“You remember where to go?” Jon asked him.
“记得，我要去楼梯，唐纳·诺伊说的。到第三层平台上，如果野人越过路障，就用十字弓往下射他们。第三层，一，二，三。”他的脑袋上下直晃。“野人进攻的话，国王会来帮我们，对不对？劳勃，他可是个了不起的战士。国王一定会来的，伊蒙师傅派了鸟儿去找他。”
“I’m to go to the stairs, Donal Noye says. I’m to go up to the third landing and shoot my crossbow down at the wildlings if they try to climb over the barrier. The third landing, one two three.” His head bobbed up and down. “If the wildlings attack, the king will come and help us, won’t he? He’s a mighty warrior, King Robert. He’s sure to come. Maester Aemon sent him a bird.”
告诉他劳勃·拜拉席恩死了也没用，反正他会像前几次一样忘掉。“伊蒙师傅派了一只鸟去他那儿。”琼恩赞同。这似乎让欧文很高兴。
There was no use telling him that Robert Baratheon was dead. He would forget it, as he’d forgotten it before. “Maester Aemon sent him a bird,” Jon agreed. That seemed to make Owen happy.
实际上，伊蒙学士派出许多乌鸦……不只给一个国王，而是四个。野人兵临城下，信中如是写道，国境垂危。请倾尽全力帮助守夜人防御黑城堡。他还向旧镇和学城那么远的地方送信，向全国五十多位大诸侯送信。他们对北方领主寄予的希望最大，因此每人送了两只鸟。黑色的鸟儿，带着恳求之辞前往安柏家与波顿家，前往赛文城、托伦方城、卡霍城、深林堡、熊岛、古城、寡妇望、白港、荒冢屯和溪流地，甚至去找偏远山区的里德尔家、伯莱利家、诺瑞家、哈克莱家和渥尔家求助。野人兵临城下，北境垂危。请携全部军力星夜前来增援。
Maester Aemon had sent a lot of birds … not to one king, but to four. Wildlings at the gate, the message ran. The realm in danger. Send all the help you can to Castle Black. Even as far as Oldtown and the Citadel the ravens flew, and to half a hundred mighty lords in their castles. The northern lords offered their best hope, so to them Aemon had sent two birds. To the Umbers and the Boltons, to Castle Cerwyn and Torrhen’s Square, Karhold and Deepwood Motte, to Bear Island, Oldcastle, Widow’s Watch, White Harbor, Barrowton, and the Rills, to the mountain fastnesses of the Liddles, the Burleys, the Norreys, the Harclays, and the Wulls, the black birds brought their plea. Wildlings at the gate. The north in danger. Come with all your strength.
然而乌鸦有翅膀，领主和国王们却没有。即便有谁愿意提供援助，今天也到不了了。
Well, ravens might have wings, but lords and kings do not. If help was coming, it would not come today.
时间由早晨到了中午，中午又到了下午，鼹鼠村的烟雾被风吹走，南方的天空回复干净。没有云，琼恩心想，这很好。雨雪会干扰视线。
As morning turned to afternoon, the smoke of Mole’s Town blew away and the southern sky was clear again. No clouds, thought Jon. That was good. Rain or snow could doom them all.
克莱达斯和伊蒙学士乘铁笼上到长城顶端安全之处，鼹鼠村的大部分妇女也上去了。黑衣人们在塔楼顶上不安地踱步，隔着院子彼此叫喊。赛勒达修士带领守卫路障的人们作祈祷，恳求战士赐予力量。聋子迪克·佛拉德蜷起身子，在自己斗篷底下睡觉。纱丁沿城垛绕了一圈又一圈，也许走了上百里路。冰墙流泪，太阳爬下冷酷的蓝天。接近傍晚时分，呆子欧文又带着一条黑面包、一桶哈布最好的羊肉和麦酒与洋葱炖的浓汤回来。迪克顿时醒转。他们把东西吃个精光，还用面包块擦干桶底。这时，太阳已低垂于西，城内处处是黑乎乎的影子。“点火，”琼恩告诉纱丁，“把锅子灌满油。”
Clydas and Maester Aemon rode the winch cage up to safety at the top of the Wall, and most of the Mole’s Town wives as well. Men in black cloaks paced restlessly on the tower tops and shouted back and forth across the courtyards. Septon Cellador led the men on the barricade in a prayer, beseeching the Warrior to give them strength. Deaf Dick Follard curled up beneath his cloak and went to sleep. Satin walked a hundred leagues in circles, round and round the crenellations. The Wall wept and the sun crept across a hard blue sky. Near evenfall, Owen the Oaf returned with a loaf of black bread and a pail of Hobb’s best mutton, cooked in a thick broth of ale and onions. Even Dick woke up for that. They ate every bit of it, using chunks of bread to wipe the bottom of the pail. By the time they were done the sun was low in the west, the shadows sharp and black throughout the castle. “Light the fire,” Jon told Satin, “and fill the kettle with oil.”
他自己走下楼梯去插门闩，试图活动僵硬的腿。这是个错误，琼恩很快便明白，但仍抓着拐杖坚持到底。国王塔的门是镶铁钉的橡木，也许可以延滞瑟恩人，但若对方真想闯入，却无法阻挡。琼恩将门闩插进槽里，然后去了趟厕所——这很可能是最后的机会——方才一瘸一拐地回到屋顶，脸庞因痛苦而扭曲。
He went downstairs himself to bar the door, to try and work some of the stiffness from his leg. That was a mistake, and Jon soon knew it, but he clutched the crutch and saw it through all the same. The door to the King’s Tower was oak studded with iron. It might delay the Thenns, but it would not stop them if they wanted to come in. Jon slammed the bar down in its notches, paid a visit to the privy—it might well be his last chance—and hobbled back up to the roof, grimacing at the pain.
西方的天空变成血色的淤青，头顶却依然是钴蓝，并渐渐转深，化为紫色，然后星星出来了。琼恩坐在两个城垛间，陪伴他的只有一个稻草人，骏马座于群星间飞奔上升，或者该叫它长角王座？琼恩疑惑地想，不知白灵在哪里，耶哥蕊特在哪里……噢，太疯狂了。
The west had gone the color of a blood bruise, but the sky above was cobalt blue, deepening to purple, and the stars were coming out. Jon sat between two merlons with only a scarecrow for company and watched the Stallion gallop up the sky. Or was it the Horned Lord? He wondered where Ghost was now. He wondered about Ygritte as well, and told himself that way lay madness.
他们当然会选择夜间。就像盗贼，琼恩心想，就像杀手。
They came in the night, of course. Like thieves, Jon thought. Like murderers.
号角吹响，纱丁尿湿了裤子，但琼恩假装没注意。“去把迪克摇醒，”他告诉旧镇的男孩，“否则打仗时他一定从头睡到尾。”
Satin pissed himself when the horns blew, but Jon pretended not to notice. “Go shake Dick by the shoulder,” he told the Oldtown boy, “else he’s liable to sleep through the fight.”
“我害怕。”纱丁的脸苍白得像死人。
“I’m frightened.” Satin’s face was a ghastly white.
“他们也怕。”琼恩把拐杖靠在城垛上，端起长弓，将沉重光滑的多恩紫杉木拗弯，并在凹槽里挂上一根弓弦。“除非确定目标，否则别浪费箭支，”纱丁叫醒迪克回来之后，琼恩道，“我们这儿补给充足，但充足不意味着无穷无尽。记住，补充弹药时躲到城垛后面去弄，别躲在稻草人背后，它们是草做的，箭会穿过去。”他没费神告诫迪克·佛拉德任何东西。只要光线足够，迪克便能读唇，对你的意思了解得很清楚。刚才的话，他已全明白了。
“So are they.” Jon leaned his crutch up against a merlon and took up his longbow, bending the smooth thick Dornish yew to slip a bowstring through the notches. “Don’t waste a quarrel unless you know you have a good clean shot,” he said when Satin returned from waking Dick. “We have an ample supply up here, but ample doesn’t mean inexhaustible. And step behind a merlon to reload, don’t try and hide in back of a scarecrow. They’re made of straw, an arrow will punch through them.” He did not bother telling Dick Follard anything. Dick could read your lips if there was enough light and he gave a damn what you were saying, but he knew it all already.
于是他们三人在圆形塔楼的三方分别站好位置。琼恩从腰带上挂的箭袋里抽出一支箭。黑色的箭杆，灰色的羽毛。当他把箭搭到弦上时，想起某次狩猎后，席恩·葛雷乔伊说的话。“尽管野猪有獠牙，黑熊有爪子，”他挂着一贯的笑容宣称，“却没有灰鹅的羽毛一半致命。”
The three of them took up positions on three sides of the round tower. Jon hung a quiver from his belt and pulled an arrow. The shaft was black, the fletching grey. As he notched it to his string, he remembered something that Theon Greyjoy had once said after a hunt. “The boar can keep his tusks and the bear his claws,” he had declared, smiling that way he did. “There’s nothing half so mortal as a grey goose feather.”
琼恩的狩猎技巧从来不及席恩的一半，但对长弓并不陌生。有些黑影在兵器库附近穿行，由于贴紧石墙，看不真切，所以还没到射击时机。他听见远处的喊叫，守卫塔上的弓手正向地面放箭。那地方太远，不属于琼恩的防御区域。但随后三个影子从旧马房窜出来五十码，他走到城垛边，举起长弓，拉紧了弦。敌人在奔跑，因此他瞄准前方，等待，等待……
Jon had never been half the hunter that Theon was, but he was no stranger to the longbow either. There were dark shapes slipping around the armory, backs against the stone, but he could not see them well enough to waste an arrow. He heard distant shouts, and saw the archers on the Tower of Guards loosing shafts at the ground. That was too far off to concern Jon. But when he glimpsed three shadows detach themselves from the old stables fifty yards away, he stepped up to the crenel, raised his bow, and drew. They were running, so he led them, waiting, waiting …
羽箭“嘶”的一声轻响离弦而出。片刻之后，一声闷哼，院里奔跑的黑影只剩两个。他们跑得更快了，而琼恩从箭袋里抽出第二支箭。这次射得太急，没有命中。等他再次搭箭，野人们已经不见。他搜寻另外的目标，发现四个敌人正在烧焦的司令塔附近奔跑。月光反射在长矛和斧子上，映出圆皮盾上可怕的图案：骷髅与骨头、毒蛇、熊爪、恶魔扭曲的脸。这是自由民，他知道，瑟恩人持黑色熟皮盾，有青铜的镶边和突起，但盾上朴素，未加装饰。这些是掠袭者们比较轻便的柳木盾。
The arrow made a soft hiss as it left his string. A moment later there was a grunt, and suddenly only two shadows were loping across the yard. They ran all the faster, but Jon had already pulled a second arrow from his quiver. This time he hurried the shot too much, and missed. The wildlings were gone by the time he nocked again. He searched for another target, and found four, rushing around the empty shell of the Lord Commander’s Keep. The moonlight glimmered off their spears and axes, and the gruesome devices on their round leathern shields; skulls and bones, serpents, bear claws, twisted demonic faces. Free folk, he knew. The Thenns carried shields of black boiled leather with bronze rims and bosses, but theirs were plain and unadorned. These were the lighter wicker shields of raiders.
琼恩将鹅羽拉至耳边，瞄准，射出，然后再次搭箭，拉弓，放。第一箭射入熊爪盾，第二箭则射入咽喉，野人尖叫着倒下。他听见左边聋子迪克的十字弓传来低沉的弹弦声，片刻之后，纱丁的十字弓也响了。“我射中一个！”男孩刺耳地嘶喊，“我射中一个人的胸口。”
Jon pulled the goose feather back to his ear, aimed, and loosed the arrow, then nocked and drew and loosed again. The first shaft pierced the bearclaw shield, the second one a throat. The wildling screamed as he went down. He heard the deep thrum of Deaf Dick’s crossbow to his left, and Satin’s a moment later. “I got one!” the boy cried hoarsely. “I got one in the chest.”
“再射另一个。”琼恩回应。
“Get another,” Jon called.
网友评论