Chapter 第二十九章 戴弗斯（四）
DAVOS
即使是在狼穴的幽暗之中，戴佛斯？席渥斯仍然能感觉到这个清晨有什么不对劲。
Even in the gloom of the Wolf’s Den, Davos Seaworth could sense that something was awry this morning.
他被说话声吵醒，然后蹑手蹑脚地走到洞穴门口，但是门板太厚了，他一句话也听不清。清晨已至，但是加尔斯没有像每天早上那样带来稀饭作为早餐。这使他忧虑重重。狼穴里的每一天都是重复的，于是任何改变通常都意味着情况变得更糟。今天可能是我的死期。加尔斯现在可能就坐在磨刀石旁，打磨他的卢夫人。
He woke to the sound of voices and crept to the door of his cell, but the wood was too thick and he could not make out the words. Dawn had come, but not the porridge Garth brought him every morn to break his fast. That made him anxious. All the days were much the same inside the Wolf’s Den, and any change was usually for the worse. This may be the day I die. Garth may be sitting with a whetstone even now, to put an edge on Lady Lu.
洋葱骑士并未忘记威曼？曼德勒最后对他说的话。带这家伙去狼穴然后砍了他的脑袋和手，胖伯爵这样命令到。要是我看不到这个走私犯的脑袋插在长枪上，并且牙齿还叼着一颗洋葱，我一口晚饭都吃不下去。每天晚上戴佛斯脑子里都回响着这些话而睡去，每天早上醒来又立刻想起这些话。他应该忘掉这些，但加尔斯一直乐意于提醒他。他给戴佛斯起了个新名字——“死人”。每天早上他来的时候总是说，“这儿，给死人的稀饭。”晚上则是：“吹掉蜡烛，死人。”
The onion knight had not forgotten Wyman Manderly’s last words to him. Take this creature to the Wolf’s Den and cut off head and hands, the fat lord had commanded. I shall not be able to eat a bite until I see this smuggler’s head upon a spike, with an onion shoved between his lying teeth. Every night Davos went to sleep with those words in his head, and every morn he woke to them. And should he forget, Garth was always pleased to remind him. Dead man was his name for Davos. When he came by in the morning, it was always, “Here, porridge for the dead man.” At night it was, “Blow out the candle, dead man.”
有一次加尔斯带着他的夫人们去向死人展示。“婊子貌不惊人，”他一边说一边爱抚着一条冰冷的黑铁，“但是当我把她弄到红热再让他摸摸你的老二，你准会哭着找妈妈。这是我的卢夫人。只要威曼伯爵一声令下，她就会砍掉你的头和手。”戴佛斯从没见过比卢夫人还大还锋利的斧子。加尔斯整天都在打磨她，另一个守卫说。我绝不会乞求怜悯，戴佛斯下定决心。他将会像个骑士一样死去，只求他们在砍掉他的手之前能先砍掉他的头。即使是加尔斯也不会残忍到拒绝这点要求吧，他希望。
Once Garth brought his ladies by to introduce them to the dead man. “The Whore don’t look like much,” he said, fondling a rod of cold black iron, “but when I heat her up red-hot and let her touch your cock, you’ll cry for mother. And this here’s my Lady Lu. It’s her who’ll take your head and hands, when Lord Wyman sends down word.” Davos had never seen a bigger axe than Lady Lu, nor one with a sharper edge. Garth spent his days honing her, the other keepers said. I will not plead for mercy, Davos resolved. He would go to his death a knight, asking only that they take his head before his hands. Even Garth would not be so cruel as to deny him that, he hoped.
穿过大门传来的声音微弱而又低沉。戴佛斯站起来，在囚室里踱来踱去。作为一间囚室，这里相当宽敞并且有种奇妙的舒适感。他怀疑这里可能曾是某位贵族的卧室。它的大小是他在黑贝塞号上那间船长舱的整整三倍，甚至比萨拉多？桑恩在他的瓦雷利亚号上享有的小舱还大。然而，唯一的窗户在多年前就已经被砖封死，一面墙上仍然有一个大的足够容纳一只茶壶的灶台，在墙角的隐蔽处修建了一个还能用的厕所。地板是用满是裂纹的弯曲厚木板铺就，而他睡觉的小床闻起来尽是霉味，但这些不舒适之处比戴佛斯预计的还是温和多了。
The sounds coming through the door were faint and muffled. Davos rose and paced his cell. As cells went, it was large and queerly comfortable. He suspected it might once have been some lordling’s bedchamber. It was thrice the size of his captain’s cabin on Black Bessa, and even larger than the cabin Salladhor Saan enjoyed on his Valyrian. Though its only window had been bricked in years before, one wall still boasted a hearth big enough to hold a kettle, and there was an actual privy built into a corner nook. The floor was made of warped planks full of splinters, and his sleeping pallet smelled of mildew, but those discomforts were mild compared to what Davos had expected.
送来的食物也令他惊讶。不再是通常作为牢饭的稀粥、剩面包和烂肉，看守给他拿来了新鲜捕获的鱼，新鲜出炉的热面包，无香羊肉，芜菁，胡萝卜，甚至还有些螃蟹。加尔斯对此并不太高兴，“死人不该比活人吃的还好。”他不只一次抱怨到。戴佛斯有了能在夜间御寒的毛皮被子，能生火的木柴，干净的衣服，和一支动物油脂蜡烛。当他要求纸、鹅毛笔和墨水，Therry第二天就拿给了他。当他要求一本书，好让他坚持阅读，Therry就带回了一本七星圣典。
The food had come as a surprise as well. In place of gruel and stale bread and rotten meat, the usual dungeon fare, his keepers brought him fresh-caught fish, bread still warm from the oven, spiced mutton, turnips, carrots, even crabs. Garth was none too pleased by that. “The dead should not eat better than the living,” he complained, more than once. Davos had furs to keep him warm by night, wood to feed his fire, clean clothing, a greasy tallow candle. When he asked for paper, quill, and ink, Therry brought them the next day. When he asked for a book, so he might keep at his reading, Therry turned up with The Seven-Pointed Star.
尽管这一切让他觉得舒适，但牢房仍然是牢房。墙壁由坚固的石头砌成，厚的足以隔绝外界的任何声音。门是用橡木和铁制成，而守卫一直把它闩起来。四套沉重的铁镣铐从天花板上垂下，等着有一天曼德拉伯爵决定将他锁起来，让“婊子”送他上路。也许就是今天。下一次加尔斯打开门，也许就不是给我来送饭。
For all its comforts, though, his cell remained a cell. Its walls were solid stone, so thick that he could hear nothing of the outside world. The door was oak and iron, and his keepers kept it barred. Four sets of heavy iron fetters dangled from the ceiling, waiting for the day Lord Manderly decided to chain him up and give him over to the Whore. Today may be that day. The next time Garth opens my door, it may not be to bring me porridge.
他的肚子咕咕作响，表明早晨已经溜了过去，但是仍没有食物送来的迹象。最糟糕的不是死亡，而是你不知将会在什么时候怎样死去。在他的走私生涯中，曾经见识过一些监狱和地牢的内部情形，但那些都有别的囚犯共享，那样总会有人可以一起聊天，一起分享你的恐惧和希望。但这里没有。除了守卫，狼穴里只有戴佛斯？席渥斯自己。
His belly was rumbling, a sure sign that the morning was creeping past, and still no sign of food. The worst part is not the dying, it’s not knowing when or how. He had seen the inside of a few gaols and dungeons in his smuggling days, but those he’d shared with other prisoners, so there was always someone to talk with, to share your fears and hopes. Not here. Aside from his keepers, Davos Seaworth had the Wolf’s Den to himself.
他知道城堡地下确实有地牢——密牢、刑讯室和黑暗中大黑老鼠跑来跑去的阴湿洼地。在看守的要求之下，它们此刻全部空了出来。“这儿只有咱们，洋葱。”Bartimus爵士对他说过。他是牢头，一个形容枯槁的独腿骑士，脸上有伤疤还瞎了一只眼。当Bartimus爵士端着酒杯的时候（而他几乎每天都端着酒杯），总是喜欢吹嘘自己当年是如何在三叉戟河战役中救了威曼伯爵的性命。狼穴就是对他的奖赏。
He knew there were true dungeons down in the castle cellars—oubliettes and torture chambers and dank pits where huge black rats scrabbled in the darkness. His gaolers claimed all of them were unoccupied at present. “Only us here, Onion,” Ser Bartimus had told him. He was the chief gaoler, a cadaverous one-legged knight, with a scarred face and a blind eye. When Ser Bartimus was in his cups (and Ser Bartimus was in his cups most every day), he liked to boast of how he had saved Lord Wyman’s life at the Battle of the Trident. The Wolf’s Den was his reward.
“咱们”当中的其他人包括一个戴佛斯从未见过的厨子，六个底层军营的卫兵，两个洗衣妇，还有两个照看囚犯的狱卒。Therry是年轻的那个，其中一个洗衣妇的儿子，一个十四岁的男孩。年长的那个叫加尔斯，高大、秃头、沉默寡言，每天都穿着同一身油腻的皮革上衣，脸上总是一副怒容。
The rest of “us” consisted of a cook Davos never saw, six guardsmen in the ground-floor barracks, a pair of washerwomen, and the two turnkeys who looked after the prisoner. Therry was the young one, the son of one of the washerwomen, a boy of ten-and-four. The old one was Garth, huge and bald and taciturn, who wore the same greasy leather jerkin every day and always seemed to have a glower on his face.
走私者的经历让戴佛斯？席渥斯具有一种感知别人什么时候不对劲的能力，加尔斯就不好相处。当他在场的时候，洋葱骑士总是非常小心地管住自己的嘴巴。而当Therry和 Bartimus爵士在的时候他就没那么沉默。他感谢他们带来的食物，鼓励他们聊聊自己的希望和经历，礼貌地回答他们的问题，而从不用自己的问题追问他们太紧。所以当他提出一些小小的要求：一盆水和一小块肥皂，一本用来读的书，更多的蜡烛。大部分都得到了准许，戴佛斯也适时地表达自己的感激。
His years as a smuggler had given Davos Seaworth a sense of when a man was wrong, and Garth was wrong. The onion knight took care to hold his tongue in Garth’s presence. With Therry and Ser Bartimus he was less reticent. He thanked them for his food, encouraged them to talk about their hopes and histories, answered their questions politely, and never pressed too hard with queries of his own. When he made requests, they were small ones: a basin of water and a bit of soap, a book to read, more candles. Most such favors were granted, and Davos was duly grateful.
没人会谈及曼德勒伯爵、史坦尼斯国王或者佛雷们，但他们可以聊其他的事。Therry希望等到自己够岁数的时候可以投身战场，在战斗中努力拼搏成为一名骑士。他也喜欢抱怨自己的母亲。她同时和两个守卫上床，他吐露了这个秘密。两人看守着不同的地方，永远不会知道对方的存在，但是如果有一天哪一个把这事捅出去，他们就会打的头破血流。一些夜晚男孩甚至会带上一皮囊的酒来到牢房，和戴佛斯一边喝酒一边聊他曾经的走私生活。
Neither man would speak about Lord Manderly or King Stannis or the Freys, but they would talk of other things. Therry wanted to go off to war when he was old enough, to fight in battles and become a knight. He liked to complain about his mother too. She was bedding two of the guardsmen, he confided. The men were on different watches and neither knew about the other, but one day one man or t’other would puzzle it out, and then there would be blood. Some nights the boy would even bring a skin of wine to the cell and ask Davos about the smuggler’s life as they drank.
Bartimus爵士对外面的世界毫无兴趣，或者说其实是自从他的一条腿断送在野马和学士的锯子之下以后，他就对任何事情都没兴趣了。尽管如此，他却转而爱上了狼穴，没有什么比讲述它那漫长而又血腥的历史更令他热衷的了。这个洞穴比白港更古老，骑士告诉戴佛斯。它是由琼恩？史塔克国王为了防护白刃河口而修建的，以此抵御来自海里的侵略者。许多北境之王的幼子都把主座设在那里，还有许多兄弟、许多叔叔、许多表亲。他们中的某些把城堡传给自己的儿子和孙子，史塔克家族在此开枝散叶。格雷史塔克是传承最久的一支，占据狼穴长达五个世纪，直至他们反叛了临冬城的史塔克，擅自投向了恐怖堡。
Ser Bartimus had no interest in the world outside, or indeed anything that had happened since he lost his leg to a riderless horse and a maester’s saw. He had come to love the Wolf’s Den, however, and liked nothing more than to talk about its long and bloody history. The Den was much older than White Harbor, the knight told Davos. It had been raised by King Jon Stark to defend the mouth of the White Knife against raiders from the sea. Many a younger son of the King in the North had made his seat there, many a brother, many an uncle, many a cousin. Some passed the castle to their own sons and grandsons, and offshoot branches of House Stark had arisen; the Greystarks had lasted the longest, holding the Wolf’s Den for five centuries, until they presumed to join the Dreadfort in rebellion against the Starks of Winterfell.
他们衰败之后，城堡由其他很多人经手过。菲林特家族占据了一个世纪，洛克家族占据了快两个世纪。Slates， Longs， Holts， and Ashwoods曾在此当道，效忠于临冬城以确保河道平安。三姐妹岛的Reavers曾经夺走城堡，把这里当做他们在北境的据点。在临冬城与谷地的战争期间，这里被“老猎鹰” 奥斯古？艾林所包围，还被他以“魔爪”著称的儿子所焚毁。当老国王艾德瑞克？史塔克太过软弱无力保卫国家的时候，狼穴一度为石阶列岛的奴隶贩子们所占有。他们会用烧红的烙铁为俘虏打上印记，然后用鞭子抽打他们，把他们漂洋过海倒卖出去，而这些同样由黑石墙见证。
After their fall, the castle had passed through many other hands. House Flint held it for a century, House Locke for almost two. Slates, Longs, Holts, and Ashwoods had held sway here, charged by Winterfell to keep the river safe. Reavers from the Three Sisters took the castle once, making it their toehold in the north. During the wars between Winterfell and the Vale, it was besieged by Osgood Arryn, the Old Falcon, and burned by his son, the one remembered as the Talon. When old King Edrick Stark had grown too feeble to defend his realm, the Wolf’s Den was captured by slavers from the Stepstones. They would brand their captives with hot irons and break them to the whip before shipping them off across the sea, and these same black stone walls bore witness.
“紧接着，一个漫长的严冬降临了。”Bartimus爵士说。“白港冻得严实，连港口都结了冰。寒风从北方呼啸而来，使得奴隶贩子们围着火堆挤成一团，当他们互相取暖的时候，新国王杀了过来。他是布兰登？史塔克，山羊胡艾德瑞克？雪诺的曾孙，人们称之为冰眼。他夺回了狼穴，把奴隶贩子们扒光，然后把他们丢给他在地牢里找到的原本锁在那里的奴隶们。据说他们把奴隶贩子的肠子挂在心树的树枝上，作为向诸神的献祭。旧神，不是那些从南方传来的新神。你的七神不懂冬天，冬天也不认识他们。”
“Then a long cruel winter fell,” said Ser Bartimus. “The White Knife froze hard, and even the firth was icing up. The winds came howling from the north and drove them slavers inside to huddle round their fires, and whilst they warmed themselves the new king come down on them. Brandon Stark this was, Edrick Snowbeard’s great-grandson, him that men called Ice Eyes. He took the Wolf’s Den back, stripped the slavers naked, and gave them to the slaves he’d found chained up in the dungeons. It’s said they hung their entrails in the branches of the heart tree, as an offering to the gods. The old gods, not these new ones from the south. Your Seven don’t know winter, and winter don’t know them.”
戴佛斯无法与这些事实争辩。从他在东海望的所见所闻来看，他也不在乎去了解什么冬天。“你信仰什么神？”他问独腿骑士。
Davos could not argue with the truth of that. From what he had seen at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, he did not care to know winter either. “What gods do you keep?” he asked the one-legged knight.
“旧神。”当Bartimus爵士咧着嘴笑的时候，看起来就像一架头骨。“我和我的人来得比曼德勒家要早。很可能，我的祖先也把肠子挂在心树上。”
“The old ones.” When Ser Bartimus grinned, he looked just like a skull. “Me and mine were here before the Manderlys. Like as not, my own forebears strung those entrails through the tree.”
“我从不知道北方人要向他们的心树作出血祭。”
“I never knew that northmen made blood sacrifice to their heart trees.”
“北境的事你们这些南方佬不知道的还多着呢。”Bartimus爵士回答他。
“There’s much and more you southrons do not know about the north,” Ser Bartimus replied.
他说的没错。戴佛斯坐在蜡烛旁边，看着他在监禁期间逐字逐句修改过的那封信。我当走私贩比骑士更称职，他对妻子写到，当骑士比当首相更称职，当首相比当丈夫更称职。非常抱歉。玛雅，我深爱过你。请原谅我对你犯下的错。万一史坦尼斯输掉战争，我们也就会失去家乡。你就带着孩子们穿过狭海去布拉佛斯，教导他们怀念我的温和，如果你愿意的话。万一史坦尼斯赢得了铁王座，席渥斯家族就能得以幸存，而且戴冯会留在宫里。他会帮你为其他的孩子谋得贵族爵位，他们就可以作为侍从效劳，然后赢得骑士的身份。这是他能给她的最好的忠告，尽管他希望这个忠告能显得更聪明一些。
He was not wrong. Davos sat beside his candle and looked at the letters he had scratched out word by word during the days of his confinement. I was a better smuggler than a knight, he had written to his wife, a better knight than a King’s Hand, a better King’s Hand than a husband. I am so sorry. Marya, I have loved you. Please forgive the wrongs I did you. Should Stannis lose his war, our lands will be lost as well. Take the boys across the narrow sea to Braavos and teach them to think kindly of me, if you would. Should Stannis gain the Iron Throne, House Seaworth will survive and Devan will remain at court. He will help you place the other boys with noble lords, where they can serve as pages and squires and win their knighthoods. It was the best counsel he had for her, though he wished it sounded wiser.
他也给三个幸存的儿子每人都写了一封信，让他们记住那个用指尖给他们起名的父亲。给史提芬和小史坦尼斯的信写的简短、生硬而又笨拙。如果照实说，他对他们的了解太少，还不到对几个被烧死并坠入黑水河的大儿子们的一半深。给戴冯写得长一些，告诉他看见自己的儿子成为国王的侍从他有多么骄傲，提醒他作为长子有责任保护他母亲和弟弟们。告诉陛下我尽了全力，他在结尾写道。非常抱歉我辜负了他。当君临城下烈火焚河那天我遗失指骨的时候，把我的好运也一起丢掉了。
He had written to each of his three surviving sons as well, to help them remember the father who had bought them names with his fingertips. His notes to Steffon and young Stannis were short and stiff and awkward; if truth be told, he did not know them half as well as he had his older boys, the ones who’d burned or drowned upon the Blackwater. To Devan he wrote more, telling him how proud he was to see his own son as a king’s squire and reminding him that as the eldest it was his duty to protect his lady mother and his younger brothers. Tell His Grace I did my best, he ended. I am sorry that I failed him. I lost my luck when I lost my fingerbones, the day the river burned below King’s Landing.
戴佛斯慢慢换着读这几封信，每一封都读了又读，斟酌着是否需要修改或是增加一些语句。当一个人望向生命的终点，应该有更多的话要说，他想，但是难以出口。我做得并不是那么糟，他试着告诉自己。我从跳蚤窝出身，一路爬到首相的位置，我还学会了读书写字。
Davos shuffled through the letters slowly, reading each one over several times, wondering whether he should change a word here or add one there. A man should have more to say when staring at the end of his life, he thought, but the words came hard. I did not do so ill, he tried to tell himself. I rose up from Flea Bottom to be a King’s Hand, and I learned to read and write.
他还在猫着腰读信，这时忽然听见铁钥匙碰撞的声响。半个心跳的时间之后，囚室的门晃晃悠悠地打开了。
He was still hunched over the letters when he heard the sound of iron keys rattling on a ring. Half a heartbeat later, the door to his cell came swinging open.
从门外走进来的人并不是某个看守。他高大而又憔悴，长着一张线条分明的脸和一头灰棕色头发。一柄长剑从胯部垂下，身上那件深染成绯红色的披风在肩膀处用一个盔甲铁拳形状的沉重的银色胸针牢系着。“席渥斯伯爵，”他说，“我们时间不多。请你跟我来。”
The man who stepped through the door was not one of his gaolers. He was tall and haggard, with a deeply lined face and a shock of grey-brown hair. A longsword hung from his hip, and his deep-dyed scarlet cloak was fastened at the shoulder with a heavy silver brooch in the shape of a mailed fist. “Lord Seaworth,” he said, “we do not have much time. Please, come with me.”
戴佛斯警惕地审视着陌生人。那个“请”字让他困惑。一个即将被砍掉脑袋和手的人不应当享受此等礼遇。“你是谁？”
Davos eyed the stranger warily. The “please” confused him. Men about to lose their heads and hands were not oft accorded such courtesies. “Who are you?”
“叫我罗贝特？葛洛佛吧，如果你乐意，大人。”
“Robett Glover, if it please, my lord.”
“葛洛佛。你是深林堡伯爵。”
“Glover. Your seat was Deepwood Motte.”
“那是我哥哥盖伯特的职位。过去是现在也是，这得多亏你的史坦尼斯国王。他从那些抢走城堡的铁民贱种手里夺回了深林堡，并且归还给它的合法主人。当你被关在高墙之内的时候，外面还发生了更多的事，戴佛斯伯爵。卡林湾已陷落，卢斯？波顿带着奈德？史塔克的幼女返回北境。一大群佛雷跟随他回来。波顿放出乌鸦，召集所有的北境领主前往荒冢屯。向他们要求宣誓效忠和人质……以及作为艾丽娅？史塔克和他的私生子拉姆斯？雪诺婚礼的见证人，这场婚姻意味着波顿家对临冬城的所有权。现在，你会跟我来了吗，还是不会？”
“My brother Galbart’s seat. It was and is, thanks to your King Stannis. He has taken Deepwood back from the iron bitch who stole it and offers to restore it to its rightful owners. Much and more has happened whilst you have been confined within these walls, Lord Davos. Moat Cailin has fallen, and Roose Bolton has returned to the north with Ned Stark’s younger daughter. A host of Freys came with him. Bolton has sent forth ravens, summoning all the lords of the north to Barrowton. He demands homage and hostages … and witnesses to the wedding of Arya Stark and his bastard Ramsay Snow, by which match the Boltons mean to lay claim to Winterfell. Now, will you come with me, or no?”
“我还有什么选择，大人？跟你走，或是留下来陪着加尔斯和卢夫人？”
“What choice do I have, my lord? Come with you, or remain with Garth and Lady Lu?”
“卢夫人是谁？一个洗衣妇？”葛洛佛变得不耐烦了。“如果你跟我来，我就会把一切解释给你听。”
“Who is Lady Lu? One of the washerwomen?” Glover was growing impatient. “All will be explained if you will come.”
戴佛斯站起来。“如果万一我死了，恳请大人能把我的信发出去。”
Davos rose to his feet. “If I should die, I beseech my lord to see that my letters are delivered.”
“我对此做出承诺……如果你死了，你的信不会留在葛洛佛或是威曼伯爵的手上。快点，跟我来。”
“You have my word on that … though if you die, it will not be at Glover’s hands, nor Lord Wyman’s. Quickly now, with me.”
葛洛佛带着他穿过一个漆黑的大厅，走下一条破旧的楼梯。他们穿过城堡的神木林，心树长得巨大，纠结的枝干吞噬了所有的橡树、榆树和桦树，苍白的树枝甚至挤进了高处俯瞰的城墙和窗户。树根有一个人的腰那么粗，树干是那么宽阔以至于上面刻着的人脸看起来肥胖而且愤怒。鱼梁木的另一边，葛洛佛打开一扇生锈的铁门，并且停下来点了一支火把。当火焰烧得红热起来，他带着戴佛斯沿着台阶再次向下进入一个桶状的圆形地窖，那里的哭墙用盐做成坚硬的白色外壳，每走一步海水都在他们脚下来回搅动。他们穿过几个地窖，以及一排又小又湿，非常难闻的房间，跟戴佛斯禁闭的地方不可同日而语。接着是一面空白的石墙，葛洛佛推了推墙就转动开了。墙的另一边是一条又长又窄的隧道，依然很有多台阶。他们顺着台阶走上去。
Glover led him along a darkened hall and down a flight of worn steps. They crossed the castle’s godswood, where the heart tree had grown so huge and tangled that it had choked out all the oaks and elms and birch and sent its thick, pale limbs crashing through the walls and windows that looked down on it. Its roots were as thick around as a man’s waist, its trunk so wide that the face carved into it looked fat and angry. Beyond the weirwood, Glover opened a rusted iron gate and paused to light a torch. When it was blazing red and hot, he took Davos down more steps into a barrel-vaulted cellar where the weeping walls were crusted white with salt, and seawater sloshed beneath their feet with every step. They passed through several cellars, and rows of small, damp, foul-smelling cells very different from the room where Davos had been confined. Then there was a blank stone wall that turned when Glover pushed on it. Beyond was a long narrow tunnel and still more steps. These led up.
“我们在哪？”当他们攀爬的时候戴佛斯问。声音在黑暗中轻轻回响着。
“Where are we?” asked Davos as they climbed. His words echoed faintly though the darkness.
“台阶下的台阶。这条通道从城堡阶梯之下向上延伸直至新城堡。一条密道。这本来不该让你看到的，大人。你本该被处死。”
“The steps beneath the steps. The passage runs beneath the Castle Stair up to the New Castle. A secret way. It would not do for you to be seen, my lord. You are supposed to be dead.”
给死人的稀饭。戴佛斯继续攀爬。
Porridge for the dead man. Davos climbed.
他们从另一面墙边爬上来，但这面墙是用条板制成，远的那一边上涂满灰泥。远处的房间舒适温暖，装备舒适，地上铺着一张密尔地毯，桌上点着一些蜂蜡蜡烛。戴佛斯听见不远处传来管乐器和小提琴的演奏声。墙上挂着一副褪色的羊皮纸北境地图。地图下面，白港的巨型伯爵——威曼？曼德勒正坐在此。
They emerged through another wall, but this one was lath and plaster on the far side. The room beyond was snug and warm and comfortably furnished, with a Myrish carpet on the floor and beeswax candles burning on a table. Davos could hear pipes and fiddles playing, not far away. On the wall hung a sheepskin with a map of the north painted across it in faded colors. Beneath the map sat Wyman Manderly, the colossal Lord of White Harbor.
“请坐。”曼德勒伯爵一身盛装。他的天鹅绒上衣是浅蓝绿色，衣服边沿、袖子和领子都绣着金线。外面披着一件白貂皮披风，用一个金色三角别在肩膀上。“你饿了吗？”
“Please sit.” Lord Manderly was richly garbed. His velvet doublet was a soft blue-green, embroidered with golden thread at hem and sleeves and collar. His mantle was ermine, pinned at the shoulder with a golden trident. “Are you hungry?”
“不，大人。您的看守为我提供的伙食很好。”
“No, my lord. Your gaolers have fed me well.”
“那边有酒，如果你渴了可以喝点。”
“There is wine, if you have a thirst.”
“我是来和你谈判的，大人。我的国王命我这么做。我不是来和你喝酒的。”
“I will treat with you, my lord. My king commanded that of me. I do not have to drink with you.”
威曼伯爵叹息一声，“我在前面的谈判中让你感到被羞辱了，我知道。但我是有原因的……请坐，请喝点酒，我恳请您。为我儿子的平安归来喝一杯。威利斯，我的长子和继承人。他回家了。你听见的欢迎宴会就是为了这个。他们在人鱼厅吃鳗鱼派和鹿肉烤栗子。薇尔菲德在陪着她将要出嫁的佛雷跳舞。其他佛雷正在高举酒杯为我们的友谊祝福。”
Lord Wyman sighed. “I have treated you most shamefully, I know. I had my reasons, but … please, sit and drink, I beg you. Drink to my boy’s safe return. Wylis, my eldest son and heir. He is home. That is the welcoming feast you hear. In the Merman’s Court they are eating lamprey pie and venison with roasted chestnuts. Wynafryd is dancing with the Frey she is to marry. The other Freys are raising cups of wine to toast our friendship.”
音乐声之下，戴佛斯能听见很多人嗡嗡的说话声、杯盘撞击声。但他什么也没说。
Beneath the music, Davos could hear the murmur of many voices, the clatter of cups and platters. He said nothing.
“我刚刚从贵宾席那边过来，”威曼伯爵接着说道，“我吃得太多了，就跟以往一样，白港所有人都知道我肠胃不好。我的佛雷朋友们不会对我长时间的造访厕所起疑心，我希望。”他把酒杯翻过来。“在那，你喝点酒吧，我不能再喝了。坐下，时间很短，而我们要说的太多。罗贝特，给首相倒酒，如果你那么好心的话。戴佛斯伯爵，你什么都不会知道，你已经死了。”
“I have just come from the high table,” Lord Wyman went on. “I have eaten too much, as ever, and all White Harbor knows my bowels are bad. My friends of Frey will not question a lengthy visit to the privy, we hope.” He turned his cup over. “There. You will drink and I will not. Sit. Time is short, and there is much we need to say. Robett, wine for the Hand, if you will be so good. Lord Davos, you will not know, but you are dead.”
罗贝特？葛洛佛倒满一杯红酒拿给戴佛斯。他接过，嗅了嗅，然后喝下。“我是怎么死的，这个可以问吗？”
Robett Glover filled a wine cup and offered it to Davos. He took it, sniffed it, drank. “How did I die, if I may ask?”
“用斧子。你的头和手被挂在海豹门上，你的脸被转向朝外这样你的眼睛就能望向港口。到目前为止，你已经腐烂透了。虽然我们在把你的脑袋钉在铁钉之前用焦油浸泡过。食腐鸦和海鸟在你的眼睛上争食，他们说。”
“By the axe. Your head and hands were mounted above the Seal Gate, with your face turned so your eyes looked out across the harbor. By now you are well rotted, though we dipped your head in tar before we set it upon the spike. Carrion crows and seabirds squabbled over your eyes, they say.”
戴佛斯不舒服地转了身。这种感觉很诡异，作为一个死人。“如果大人乐意，能告诉我替我死的是谁吗？”
Davos shifted uncomfortably. It was a queer feeling, being dead. “If it please my lord, who died in my place?”
“这个重要吗？你长了一张大众脸，戴佛斯伯爵。我希望这么说没有伤害你的感情。那个人和你肤色一样，鼻子的形状一样，两只耳朵也没什么不同，留着长胡子但是可以剃掉修成你的形状。你可以肯定我们给他很好地浸了焦油，嘴里还塞了一颗洋葱让他的脸看起来更扭曲。Bartimus爵士看到他的左手指节都少了一截，跟你一样。那家伙是个罪犯，也许这个能给你点安慰。他这一死可比他活一辈子做出的贡献大多了。大人，我对你并无恶意。我在人鱼厅向你显示出的仇恨只是一场小丑的闹剧，为了取悦我们的佛雷朋友而已。”
“Does it matter? You have a common face, Lord Davos. I hope my saying so does not offend you. The man had your coloring, a nose of the same shape, two ears that were not dissimilar, a long beard that could be trimmed and shaped like yours. You can be sure we tarred him well, and the onion shoved between his teeth served to twist the features. Ser Bartimus saw that the fingers of his left hand were shortened, the same as yours. The man was a criminal, if that gives you any solace. His dying may accomplish more good than anything he ever did whilst living. My lord, I bear you no ill will. The rancor I showed you in the Merman’s Court was a mummer’s farce put on to please our friends of Frey.”
“伯爵大人应该去演戏。”戴佛斯说，“您和您的人都演技绝佳。您的好女儿像是最迫切的想看到我死的人，而那个小女孩……”
“My lord should take up a life of mummery,” said Davos. “You and yours were most convincing. Your good-daughter seemed to want me dead most earnestly, and the little girl …”
“薇拉。”威曼伯爵微笑了。“你看到她有多勇敢了吗？哪怕是我威胁要把她的舌头拔出来，她也提醒我不要忘记白港对临冬城的史塔克家族欠下的恩情，一份我们永远也偿还不完的恩情。薇拉用心灵说话，其实里雅夫人也是一样。如果你能的话就原谅她吧，大人。她是个傻瓜，是个被吓坏了的女人，威里斯就是她的命。不是每个男人骨子里都有龙骑士伊蒙王子或是星眼赛米恩的影子，也不是每个女人都能像我的薇拉和她姐姐薇尔菲德那样勇敢……薇尔菲德其实什么都明白，但是她仍然无所畏惧的扮演着自己该扮演的角色。”
“Wylla.” Lord Wyman smiled. “Did you see how brave she was? Even when I threatened to have her tongue out, she reminded me of the debt White Harbor owes to the Starks of Winterfell, a debt that can never be repaid. Wylla spoke from the heart, as did Lady Leona. Forgive her if you can, my lord. She is a foolish, frightened woman, and Wylis is her life. Not every man has it in him to be Prince Aemon the Dragonknight or Symeon Star-Eyes, and not every woman can be as brave as my Wylla and her sister Wynafryd … who did know, yet played her own part fearlessly.
“当和骗子打交道的时候，就算是诚实的人也必须说谎。只要我唯一还活着的儿子仍然是俘虏，我就不敢公然与君临为敌。泰温？兰尼斯特大人亲自写信告诉我，威里斯在他手上。如果我想让他安然无恙的被释放，他告诉我，我就必须对自己的叛国罪做出忏悔，让整座城市投降，向铁王座上的男孩国王宣誓我的忠诚……还要对卢斯波顿，他新任命的北境守护屈膝下跪。如果我拒绝，威里斯就会像一个叛国者一样死去，白港会被暴风雨般的攻击倾覆，而我的人民就会拥有和卡斯特梅的雷耶斯一家一样的命运。”
“When treating with liars, even an honest man must lie. I did not dare defy King’s Landing so long as my last living son remained a captive. Lord Tywin Lannister wrote me himself to say that he had Wylis. If I would have him freed unharmed, he told me, I must repent my treason, yield my city, declare my loyalty to the boy king on the Iron Throne … and bend my knee to Roose Bolton, his Warden of the North. Should I refuse, Wylis would die a traitor’s death, White Harbor would be stormed and sacked, and my people would suffer the same fate as the Reynes of Castamere.
“我很胖，很多人认为肥胖让我变得懦弱和愚蠢。也许泰温？兰尼斯特就是其中之一。我给他送回一只信鸦，说我会屈膝投降，并且打开城门，但是那必须是在我的儿子被送回来之后，不是之前。但是麻烦来了，泰温恰好死了。后来佛雷家带着文德尔的尸骨出现在这里……声称要用一桩联姻来促成和平。但是在我看到威里斯好端端的，一根毛不少的回来之前，我不想给他们他们想要的东西。然而如果我不证明我的忠诚，他们也不会给我威里斯。你的到来恰好给了我做这件事的时机。那就是在人鱼厅我对你失礼的原因，也是让那颗头和那双手在海豹门上腐烂的原因。”
“I am fat, and many think that makes me weak and foolish. Mayhaps Tywin Lannister was one such. I sent him back a raven to say that I would bend my knee and open my gates after my son was returned, but not before. There the matter stood when Tywin died. Afterward the Freys turned up with Wendel’s bones … to make a peace and seal it with a marriage pact, they claimed, but I was not about to give them what they wanted until I had Wylis, safe and whole, and they were not about to give me Wylis until I proved my loyalty. Your arrival gave me the means to do that. That was the reason for the discourtesy I showed you in the Merman’s Court, and for the head and hands rotting above the Seal Gate.”
“你冒了很大的风险，大人。”戴佛斯说。“如果佛雷家看穿了你的诡计……”
“You took a great risk, my lord,” Davos said. “If the Freys had seen through your deception …”
“我没有冒任何风险。如果佛雷家有人非要爬上我的城门，近距离的仔细查看那颗嘴里含着洋葱的人头，我就会谴责我的狱卒的失误，并且把你交出去平息事端。”
“I took no risk at all. If any of the Freys had taken it upon themselves to climb my gate for a close look at the man with the onion in his mouth, I would have blamed my gaolers for the error and produced you to appease them.”
戴佛斯的脊梁骨一阵发凉。“我明白了。”
Davos felt a shiver up his spine. “I see.”
“希望你能明白。你自己也有儿子，你说过。”
“I hope so. You have sons of your own, you said.”
三个。戴佛斯心想，尽管我实际上生了七个。
Three, thought Davos, though I fathered seven.
“我马上就要回到宴会上去向我的佛雷朋友们敬酒了。”曼德勒继续说。“他们监视我，爵士。他们的眼睛日夜都不离开我，鼻子不停的尝试嗅到哪怕是一丝一毫的叛变气息。你看见他们了，傲慢的杰瑞爵士和他的侄子雷加，那个披着真龙名字，假笑着的蛀虫。他们身后站着赛蒙，腰里的钱币叮当响。他收买了我的好几个侍从，还有两个骑士。他老婆的一个侍女，还和我手下的一个傻子上了床。如果史坦尼斯想知道为何我的信上说的那么少，那是因为我甚至不敢相信我的学士。席奥默只有头脑，没有心灵。你在我的大厅里已经听到他怎么说了。当学士们戴上项链的时候，就应该完全放下过去的效忠对象。但是我忘不了席奥默是出生在兰尼斯港的兰尼斯特，和凯岩城的兰尼斯特有远亲关系。敌人和错误的朋友包围了我，戴佛斯伯爵。他们像蟑螂一样侵扰我的城市，夜里我总是觉得他们在我身上爬来爬去。”胖伯爵的手指深深陷入掌心，整个下巴都在颤抖。“我的儿子文德尔，作为一个宾客去了孪河城。他吃了瓦德侯爵的面包和盐，把他的剑挂在墙上，和他的朋友们一起大快朵颐。然后他们谋杀了他。谋杀，我是说，希望那些佛雷们都被他们自己的谎言噎死。我和杰瑞一起喝酒，和赛蒙开玩笑，向雷加保证他能和我挚爱的小孙女牵手联姻……但是别认为这说明我忘记了过去。北境记得，戴佛斯伯爵。北境记得，而这小丑的游戏就要结束了。我的儿子终于回来了。”
“Soon I must return to the feast to toast my friends of Frey,” Manderly continued. “They watch me, ser. Day and night their eyes are on me, noses sniffing for some whiff of treachery. You saw them, the arrogant Ser Jared and his nephew Rhaegar, that smirking worm who wears a dragon’s name. Behind them both stands Symond, clinking coins. That one has bought and paid for several of my servants and two of my knights. One of his wife’s handmaids has found her way into the bed of my own fool. If Stannis wonders that my letters say so little, it is because I dare not even trust my maester. Theomore is all head and no heart. You heard him in my hall. Maesters are supposed to put aside old loyalties when they don their chains, but I cannot forget that Theomore was born a Lannister of Lannisport and claims some distant kinship to the Lannisters of Casterly Rock. Foes and false friends are all around me, Lord Davos. They infest my city like roaches, and at night I feel them crawling over me.” The fat man’s fingers coiled into a fist, and all his chins trembled. “My son Wendel came to the Twins a guest. He ate Lord Walder’s bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with friends. And they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Freys choke upon their fables. I drink with Jared, jape with Symond, promise Rhaegar the hand of my own beloved granddaughter … but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home.”
威曼伯爵话里的某些东西让戴佛斯感到彻骨的寒冷。“如果你要的是公正，大人，去史坦尼斯国王那里寻找吧。没人比他更公正了。”
Something about the way Lord Wyman said that chilled Davos to the bone. “If it is justice that you want, my lord, look to King Stannis. No man is more just.”
罗贝特？葛洛佛插进来说道：“你的忠诚让你充满荣誉感，大人，但是史坦尼斯？拜拉席恩仍然只是你的国王，不是我们自己的。”
Robett Glover broke in to add, “Your loyalty does you honor, my lord, but Stannis Baratheon remains your king, not our own.”
“你们自己的国王已经死了。”戴佛斯提醒他们。“在红色婚礼上，他在威曼大人的儿子身边被谋杀了。”
“Your own king is dead,” Davos reminded them, “murdered at the Red Wedding beside Lord Wyman’s son.”
“少狼主是死了。”曼德勒承认，“但是那个勇敢的男孩不是艾德大人唯一的儿子。罗贝特，把那个小伙子带上来。”
“The Young Wolf is dead,” Manderly allowed, “but that brave boy was not Lord Eddard’s only son. Robett, bring the lad.”
“立刻就去，大人。”葛洛佛闪身出门。
“At once, my lord.” Glover slipped out the door.
那个小伙子？难道是罗柏史塔克的兄弟之一在临冬城的废墟中生还？曼德勒大人是不是在他的城堡里私藏了一位史塔克的继承人？是他们寻找到的真的史塔克男孩，还是只是一个以假乱真的男孩？但是他怀疑无论是真是假，北境都会为这个男孩起兵的……但是史坦尼斯拜拉席恩可不会承认假冒者 。
The lad? Was it possible that one of Robb Stark’s brothers had survived the ruin of Winterfell? Did Manderly have a Stark heir hidden away in his castle? A found boy or a feigned boy? The north would rise for either, he suspected … but Stannis Baratheon would never make common cause with an imposter.
和罗贝特？葛洛佛一起进来的小伙子不是史塔克，也别想伪装成一个史塔克。他比少狼主被谋杀的兄弟们都要大，看起来十四，五岁的样子，眼神看起来甚至更加成熟。纠结的棕黑头发底下的脸庞，甚至显得有些凶恶，宽嘴巴，尖鼻子，尖下巴。“你是谁？”戴佛斯问道。
The lad who followed Robett Glover through the door was not a Stark, nor could he ever hope to pass for one. He was older than the Young Wolf’s murdered brothers, fourteen or fifteen by the look of him, and his eyes were older still. Beneath a tangle of dark brown hair his face was almost feral, with a wide mouth, sharp nose, and pointed chin. “Who are you?” Davos asked.
男孩看向罗贝特？葛洛佛。
The boy looked to Robett Glover.
“他是个哑巴，但是我们在教他认字，他学得很快。”葛洛佛从腰间拔下一根匕丵首，递给男孩。“给席渥斯大人写写你的名字。”
“He is a mute, but we have been teaching him his letters. He learns quickly.” Glover drew a dagger from his belt and gave it to the boy. “Write your name for Lord Seaworth.”
房间里没有羊皮纸。男孩把字母刻在了墙上的一根木头梁柱上。W…E…X。他倾身重重的刻下X。当他刻完的时候，他把匕丵首往空中轻轻一抛，接住它，然后站在那里欣赏他的刻痕。
There was no parchment in the chamber. The boy carved the letters into a wooden beam in the wall. W … E … X. He leaned hard into the X. When he was done he flipped the dagger in the air, caught it, and stood admiring his handiwork.
“Wex是铁民。他是席恩葛雷乔伊的侍从。Wex之前在临冬城。”葛洛佛坐下来。“史坦尼斯大人关于临冬城发生的事情知晓多少？”
“Wex is ironborn. He was Theon Greyjoy’s squire. Wex was at Winterfell.” Glover sat. “How much does Lord Stannis know of what transpired at Winterfell?”
戴佛斯回想着他们听说的故事。“临冬城被席恩？葛雷乔伊攻占，他过去是史塔克大人的养子。他杀了史塔克家两个年幼的儿子，把他们的脑袋挂在城墙上。当北境人民去撵走他时，他把城堡里所有的人都杀了，包括最小的孩子，然后他自己被波顿的私生子干掉了。”
Davos thought back on the tales they’d heard. “Winterfell was captured by Theon Greyjoy, who had once been Lord Stark’s ward. He had Stark’s two young sons put to death and mounted their heads above the castle walls. When the northmen came to oust him, he put the entire castle to sword, down to the last child, before he himself was slain by Lord Bolton’s bastard.”
“不是干掉了。”葛洛佛说，“俘虏了。而且带回了恐怖堡。私生子剥他的皮。“
“Not slain,” said Glover. “Captured, and carried back to the Dreadfort. The Bastard has been flaying him.”
威曼伯爵点着头。“你说的故事是我们都听说过的版本，里面谎言的含量就像布丁里的葡萄干一样多。是波顿的私生子把临冬城的所有人杀掉的……拉姆斯？雪诺，在男孩国王把波顿的姓赐给他之前，他还叫这个名字。雪诺没杀了所有人，他留下了女人们，用绳子绑在一起，赶回恐怖堡为他的体育运动服务。”
Lord Wyman nodded. “The tale you tell is one we all have heard, as full of lies as a pudding’s full of raisins. It was the Bastard of Bolton who put Winterfell to the sword … Ramsay Snow, he was called then, before the boy king made him a Bolton. Snow did not kill them all. He spared the women, roped them together, and marched them to the Dreadfort for his sport.”
“他的体育运动？”
“His sport?”
“他是个好猎手，”威曼曼德勒说，“而女人是他最喜欢的猎物。他把她们的衣服扒光，把她们放到树林中。她们先行半日，然后他就派出猎狗，吹着号角追袭她们。有时候，有些妞儿逃脱了追捕，传播开了这个故事。但是大部分的妞儿没这么幸运。当拉姆斯抓住她们的时候，把她们都强奸了，剥皮了，把她们的尸体喂给狗吃，然后把她们的人皮带回恐怖堡作为战利品。如果她们在体育运动中让他满意，他就在剥皮之前先割了她们的喉咙。否则，反之。”
“He is a great hunter,” said Wyman Manderly, “and women are his favorite prey. He strips them naked and sets them loose in the woods. They have a half day’s start before he sets out after them with hounds and horns. From time to time some wench escapes and lives to tell the tale. Most are less fortunate. When Ramsay catches them he rapes them, flays them, feeds their corpses to his dogs, and brings their skins back to the Dreadfort as trophies. If they have given him good sport, he slits their throats before he skins them. Elsewise, t’other way around.”
戴佛斯脸色苍白。“诸神慈悲。怎么会有人————”
Davos paled. “Gods be good. How could any man—”
“他的邪恶深入血液。”罗贝特？葛洛佛说。“他就是强奸的私生子产物。一个雪诺，无论那男孩国王怎么说。”
“The evil is in his blood,” said Robett Glover. “He is a bastard born of rape. A Snow, no matter what the boy king says.”
“有过这么黑心的雪诺吗？”威曼伯爵问。“拉姆斯强行和霍伍德伯爵的遗孀结婚，取得了他家的土地。之后就把她锁在塔楼里，完全将她忘却。传说她实在忍受不了饥饿而啃食自己的手指……而兰尼斯特对于国王的正义的诠释，就是给了这个杀人凶手奈德？史塔克的小女儿。”
“Was ever snow so black?” asked Lord Wyman. “Ramsay took Lord Hornwood’s lands by forcibly wedding his widow, then locked her in a tower and forgot her. It is said she ate her own fingers in her extremity … and the Lannister notion of king’s justice is to reward her killer with Ned Stark’s little girl.”
“波顿家总是又狡猾又残暴，但是这一个已经是一只披着人皮的野兽。”葛洛佛说。
“The Boltons have always been as cruel as they were cunning, but this one seems a beast in human skin,” said Glover.
白港伯爵倾身向前。“佛雷家也好不到哪儿去。他们谈论着狼灵和异形者，声称是罗柏？史塔克宰了我的文德尔。何其自大！他们根本不指望北境相信他们的谎言，而是认为我们必须装作相信，否则就必死。卢斯？波顿对于红色婚礼上他所扮演的角色扯了谎，他的儿子对临冬城陷落扯了谎。但是只要他们手里还攥着威里斯，我就没有别的选择，只能吃下这堆臭狗屎，并且赞颂它的香味。”
The Lord of White Harbor leaned forward. “The Freys are no better. They speak of wargs and skinchangers and assert that it was Robb Stark who slew my Wendel. The arrogance of it! They do not expect the north to believe their lies, not truly, but they think we must pretend to believe or die. Roose Bolton lies about his part in the Red Wedding, and his bastard lies about the fall of Winterfell. And yet so long as they held Wylis I had no choice but to eat all this excrement and praise the taste.”
“那现在呢，大人？”戴佛斯问。
“And now, my lord?” asked Davos.
他希望能听到威曼伯爵说，现在我将宣誓效忠史坦尼斯国王，然而胖伯爵露出了古怪的一闪而过的微笑，他说：“现在我要去参加一个婚礼。只要是长了眼睛的人就能看出来，我太胖，骑不了马。在我还是一个男孩的时候，我喜欢骑马，当我长成一个年轻人的时候，我骑术不错，还可以在比武名单中赢得一些小喝彩。但是那些日子已经结束了。我的身躯已经变成一个比狼穴还要可怕的监牢。就算如此，我还是必须去临冬城。卢斯？波顿要看到我屈膝下跪，而他为人口蜜腹剑、笑里藏刀。我将会乘驳船担架前往，一百名骑士护送，和我来自孪河城的好朋友们同行。佛雷们是过海来到这里的。他们没有带马，所以我将送他们一人一匹驯马，作为宾客的礼物。在南方，主人们给宾客礼物吗？”
He had hoped to hear Lord Wyman say, And now I shall declare for King Stannis, but instead the fat man smiled an odd, twinkling smile and said, “And now I have a wedding to attend. I am too fat to sit a horse, as any man with eyes can plainly see. As a boy I loved to ride, and as a young man I handled a mount well enough to win some small acclaim in the lists, but those days are done. My body has become a prison more dire than the Wolf’s Den. Even so, I must go to Winterfell. Roose Bolton wants me on my knees, and beneath the velvet courtesy he shows the iron mail. I shall go by barge and litter, attended by a hundred knights and my good friends from the Twins. The Freys came here by sea. They have no horses with them, so I shall present each of them with a palfrey as a guest gift. Do hosts still give guest gifts in the south?”
“有些送，大人。在他们的宾客离开的那一天。”
“Some do, my lord. On the day their guest departs.”
“那么也许你能理解。”威曼曼德勒晃晃悠悠的站起来。“我已经有一年多都在修葺战船了。你看到了一部分，但是更多的都在白刃河里藏着。尽管我痛失了一些马，但是我指挥的重装马的数量仍然多于颈泽以北的任何一个领主。我的城墙很坚固，地窖里装满银子。古城和寡妇望将为我打前阵。我的旗下还拥有众多小领主和封地骑士。我可以让史坦尼斯国王得到白刃河以东所有土地的支持，从寡妇望到拉姆斯门，直至羊头山和断裂支流的源头。只要你能满足我的出价，所有这些我都保证能做到。”
“Perhaps you understand, then.” Wyman Manderly lurched ponderously to his feet. “I have been building warships for more than a year. Some you saw, but there are as many more hidden up the White Knife. Even with the losses I have suffered, I still command more heavy horse than any other lord north of the Neck. My walls are strong, and my vaults are full of silver. Oldcastle and Widow’s Watch will take their lead from me. My bannermen include a dozen petty lords and a hundred landed knights. I can deliver King Stannis the allegiance of all the lands east of the White Knife, from Widow’s Watch and Ramsgate to the Sheepshead Hills and the headwaters of the Broken Branch. All this I pledge to do if you will meet my price.”
“我可以把你的条件带给国王，但是————”
“I can bring your terms to the king, but—”
威曼伯爵打断了他的话。“我说的是，如果你同意我的价码。不是史坦尼斯。我不需要国王，我只需要一个走私犯。”
Lord Wyman cut him off. “If you will meet my price, I said. Not Stannis. It’s not a king I need but a smuggler.”
罗贝特？葛洛佛接下了话茬。“我们也许永远也不会知道在罗德里克？凯索爵士试图把城堡从席恩葛雷乔伊的铁民手里夺回来的时候，临冬城里发生的所有事件。波顿的私生子声称葛雷乔伊在一次谈判中谋杀了罗德利克爵士。Wex说不是这样。但是不等到他学会更多的词语，我们无法知道哪怕一半的真相……但是他来的时候知道是和否，所以如果你能找到合适的问题，就可以了解很多的情况。”
Robett Glover took up the tale. “We may never know all that happened at Winterfell, when Ser Rodrik Cassel tried to take the castle back from Theon Greyjoy’s ironmen. The Bastard of Bolton claims that Greyjoy murdered Ser Rodrik during a parley. Wex says no. Until he learns more letters we will never know half the truth … but he came to us knowing yes and no, and those can go a long way once you find the right questions.”
“是私生子谋杀了罗德利克爵士和临冬城的人们。”威曼伯爵说。
“It was the Bastard who murdered Ser Rodrik and the men of Winterfell,” said Lord Wyman. “He slew Greyjoy’s ironmen as well. Wex saw men cut down trying to yield. When we asked how he escaped, he took a chunk of chalk and drew a tree with a face.”
“他同时也杀了葛雷乔伊的铁民。Wex看到了被砍倒的想要投降的人。当我们问到他是如何逃脱的时候，他拿起一截粉笔，画了一棵有着一张脸的树。”
Davos thought about that. “The old gods saved him?”
戴佛斯想了想。“是旧神救了他？”
“After a fashion. He climbed the heart tree and hid himself amongst the leaves. Bolton’s men searched the godswood twice and killed the men they found there, but none thought to clamber up into the trees. Is that how it happened, Wex?”
“在一定程度上说是。他爬上了心树，藏在树叶里。波顿的人对神木林搜查了两次，杀掉了所有发现的人，但是没有人想到要爬上树看看。是这么回事吗，Wex？”
The boy flipped up Glover’s dagger, caught it, nodded.
男孩抛起葛洛佛的匕首，接住它，点了点头。
Glover said, “He stayed up in the tree a long time. He slept amongst the branches, not daring to descend. Finally he heard voices down beneath him.”
葛洛佛说：“他在树上待了很长时间。他在树枝上睡觉，不敢下来。最终他听到树下有说话声。”
“The voices of the dead,” said Wyman Manderly.
“已死之人的说话声。”威曼？曼德勒说。
Wex held up five fingers, tapped each one with the dagger, then folded four away and tapped the last again.
Wex伸出五根手指，用匕丵首敲了每根手指一下，然后收回四个指头，又敲了一下最后剩下的那根手指。
“Six of them,” asked Davos. “There were six.”
“他们有六个人。”戴佛斯说。“六个人。”
“Two of them Ned Stark’s murdered sons.”
“其中两个是奈德史塔克被谋杀了的儿子们。”
“How could a mute tell you that?”
“哑巴怎么会告诉你这个信息呢？”
“With chalk. He drew two boys … and two wolves.”
“用粉笔。他画了两个男孩……还有两头狼。”
“The lad is ironborn, so he thought it best not to show himself,” said Glover. “He listened. The six did not linger long amongst the ruins of Winterfell. Four went one way, two another. Wex stole after the two, a woman and a boy. He must have stayed downwind, so the wolf would not catch his scent.”
“小伙子是铁民，所以他决定最好不要现身。”葛洛佛说。“他只是听。六个人没有在临冬城的废墟停留多久，四个从一条路走了，两个从另一条路走了。Wex跟踪了那两个，一个女人和一个男孩。他一定是走在下风方向，这样狼就闻不到他的气味。”
“He knows where they went,” Lord Wyman said.
“他知道他们去了哪里。”威曼伯爵说。
Davos understood. “You want the boy.”
戴佛斯明白了。“你想要那个男孩。”
“Roose Bolton has Lord Eddard’s daughter. To thwart him White Harbor must have Ned’s son … and the direwolf. The wolf will prove the boy is who we say he is, should the Dreadfort attempt to deny him. That is my price, Lord Davos. Smuggle me back my liege lord, and I will take Stannis Baratheon as my king.”
“卢斯？波顿拥有艾德大人的女儿。要想挫败他，白港必须拥有奈德的儿子……和冰原狼。狼可以证明我们所说的孩子的身份，如果恐怖堡想要否定他的话。这就是我的价码，戴佛斯大人。把我的领主走私回来，我就承认史坦尼斯？拜拉席恩是我的国王。”
Old instinct made Davos Seaworth reach for his throat. His fingerbones had been his luck, and somehow he felt he would have need of luck to do what Wyman Manderly was asking of him. The bones were gone, though, so he said, “You have better men than me in your service. Knights and lords and maesters. Why would you need a smuggler? You have ships.”
老习惯让戴佛斯席渥斯摸向颈部。他的断指节是他的好运，而现在不知道是因为什么原因，他感觉他需要一些好运来完成威曼曼德勒交给他的任务。但是指节丢失了，所以他说：“您有更好的人选为您服务。骑士或者伯爵或者学士。为什么你需要一个走私犯呢？你已经有了船。”
“Ships,” Lord Wyman agreed, “but my crews are rivermen, or fisherfolk who have never sailed beyond the Bite. For this I must have a man who’s sailed in darker waters and knows how to slip past dangers, unseen and unmolested.”
“我有船。”威曼伯爵认可道。“但是我的船员都是河工，或者从未在咬人湾以外航行的渔民。为了这个原因，我必须找一位曾经在更黑暗的海水中航行过的船夫，一位知道如何逃过危险，不会被看见，也不会被丵干扰的航行者。““那个男孩在哪儿？”不知为什么，戴佛斯知道他不会喜欢这个答案。“您想让我去哪儿，大人？”
“Where is the boy?” Somehow Davos knew he would not like the answer. “Where is it you want me to go, my lord?”
罗贝特？葛洛佛说：“Wex，告诉他。”
Robett Glover said, “Wex. Show him.”
哑巴抛起匕丵首，接住它，然后将它旋转着扔向威曼伯爵墙上装饰着的巨大羊皮地图。匕丵首尖扎进墙壁，手柄微微颤动。男孩咧嘴笑了。
The mute flipped the dagger, caught it, then flung it end over end at the sheepskin map that adorned Lord Wyman’s wall. It struck quivering. Then he grinned.
有半个心跳的功夫，戴佛斯简直想要求威曼曼德勒把他送回狼穴，让他回去听Bartimus爵士讲故事，听加尔斯说起他那些要命的女人。在狼穴里，甚至是囚犯早上都有稀饭吃。但是世界上还有另一些地方，人们早饭吃人的血肉。
For half a heartbeat Davos considered asking Wyman Manderly to send him back to the Wolf’s Den, to Ser Bartimus with his tales and Garth with his lethal ladies. In the Den even prisoners ate porridge in the morning. But there were other places in this world where men were known to break their fast on human flesh.