Chapter 第二十七章 提利昂
TYRION
当他们到达瓦兰提斯时，西边的天空泛紫而东边的漆黑一片，星星正逐渐开始闪烁。和维斯特洛伊的星星一样，提利昂？兰尼斯特回忆。
By the time they reached Volantis, the sky was purple to the west and black to the east, and the stars were coming out. The same stars as in Westeros, Tyrion Lannister reflected.
若没被拴在马鞍上捆得像只鹅的话，他会更舒服点。他已经放弃了扭动，他身上的结打得太紧了。相反他任随他们带着就像一块松松垮垮的肉一样走。省点力气，他告诉自己，但是他却不能说出口。
He might have taken some comfort in that if he had not been trussed up like a goose and lashed to a saddle. He had given up squirming. The knots that bound him were too tight. Instead he’d gone as limp as a sack of meal. Saving my strength, he told himself, though for what he could not have said.
瓦兰提斯在入夜后就关闭了大门，守在北门的守卫们对来来往往的流浪者报以不耐烦的嘟囔。他们跟在一队装着酸橙和橙子的马车后，守卫们挥挥火炬示意马车通过但是狠狠的看了一眼穿着盔甲配了剑的大块头安达尔人和他的战马。趁守卫队长被招来与骑士用瓦兰提斯语交谈的当口，一个守卫拽下护手狠狠的揉了揉提利昂的脑袋。“我可是浑身好运，”侏儒告诉他，“割掉我的绳子放我下来，我想你会被好好奖励的。”
Volantis closed its gates at dark, and the guardsmen on its northern gate were grumbling impatiently at the stragglers. They joined the queue behind a wagon laden with limes and oranges. The guards motioned the wagon through with their torches but took a harder look at the big Andal on his warhorse, with his longsword and his mail. A captain was summoned. Whilst he and the knight exchanged some words in Volantene, one of the guardsmen pulled off his clawed gauntlet and gave Tyrion’s head a rub. “I’m full of good fortune,” the dwarf told him. “Cut me loose, friend, and I’ll see you’re well rewarded.”
捕获他的人无意听到了这句话。“对那些能听懂你花言巧语的人说吧，小恶魔，”当瓦兰提斯人示意他们可以通过时他说。
His captor overheard. “Save your lies for those who speak your tongue, Imp,” he said, when the Volantenes waved them on.
他们穿过城城镇巨大城墙下的大门又上路了。“你就说我的预言，我是否可以动摇你的承诺，或者你打算用我的脑袋买个爵位么？”
They were moving again, through the gate and beneath the city’s massive walls. “You speak my tongue. Can I sway you with promises, or are you determined to buy a lordship with my head?”
“我以前就有爵位，以血统为证。我可不要什么虚假的头衔。”
“I was a lord, by right of birth. I want no hollow titles.”
“那是你希望从我那可爱的姐姐那里得到的。”
“That’s all you’re like to get from my sweet sister.”
“在这儿我听说兰尼斯特有债必还。”
“And here I’d heard a Lannister always pays his debts.”
“哦，没分钱……但是我现在半分都没有，大人。你会的到你讨要到的肉，但是可不会用感恩作酱，最后它也不会滋养你。”
“Oh, every penny … but never a groat more, my lord. You’ll get the meal you bargained for, but it won’t be sauced with gratitude, and in the end it will not nourish you.”
“我所希望的就是看你罪有应得。弑亲者在神人眼里都活该受诅咒。”
“Might be all I want is to see you pay for crimes. The kinslayer is accursed in the eyes of gods and men.”
“神灵们都是瞎子，人们则选择性失明。”
“The gods are blind. And men see only what they wish.”
“我看清你了，小恶魔。”骑士的语调爬上一丝阴暗。“我曾做过我并不感到荣誉的事，他们为我的家族和父亲蒙羞……但是杀害自己的血亲？什么样的人干得出这种事？”
“I see you plain enough, Imp.” Something dark had crept into the knight’s tone. “I have done things I am not proud of, things that brought shame onto my House and my father’s name … but to kill your own sire? How could any man do that?”
“给我把十字弓然后脱了裤子，我会展示给你的。”而且很乐意。
“Give me a crossbow and pull down your breeches, and I’ll show you.” Gladly.
“你认为这是个玩笑？”
“You think this is a jape?”
“我认为人生就是个笑话。你的，我的，每个人的。”
“I think life is a jape. Yours, mine, everyone’s.”
在城墙里，他们路过市政厅，市场和澡堂。宽广的广场上喷泉飞溅轻吟，那里人们坐在石桌前，玩着锡瓦斯棋从玻璃管子里呷着葡萄酒，而奴隶们提着的灯笼让黑暗无处遁形。石子路边成条的种植着棕榈和香柏，每个路口都立着一个纪念碑。许多的雕塑没有头，侏儒注意到，但是在紫色的黄昏下他们依然看起来甚是庄严。
Inside the city walls, they rode past guildhalls, markets, and bathhouses. Fountains splashed and sang in the centers of wide squares, where men sat at stone tables, moving cyvasse pieces and sipping wine from glass flutes as slaves lit ornate lanterns to hold the dark at bay. Palms and cedars grew along the cobbled road, and monuments stood at every junction. Many of the statues lacked heads, the dwarf noted, yet even headless they still managed to look imposing in the purple dusk.
随着战马缓慢的沿河向南，商店们变的越来越小而寒酸，街边的树也越来越趋于残花败柳。石子路则在他们的马蹄下演替成鬼草，接着是湿软的如同婴孩粪便颜色的泥巴路。跨过将汇入罗伊达河的细流的小桥在他们走过时发出让人心惊的吱呀声。在曾经是个可以俯瞰河流的城堡的旧址上只有一座破烂的大门，想无齿的老翁一样张开嘴。越过矮墙，能瞥见一些山羊。
As the warhorse plodded south along the river, the shops grew smaller and meaner, the trees along the street became a row of stumps. Cobblestones gave way to devilgrass beneath their horse’s hooves, then to soft wet mud the color of a baby’s nightsoil. The little bridges that spanned the small streams that fed the Rhoyne creaked alarmingly beneath their weight. Where a fort had once overlooked the river now stood a broken gate, gaping open like an old man’s toothless mouth. Goats could be glimpsed peering over the parapets.
古瓦兰提斯，瓦雷利亚的第一个女儿，侏儒打趣。骄傲的瓦兰提斯，罗伊达的女王，盛夏海的女主人，古老血统的可爱女士和高贵的领主们的归宿。哦，还是忽略在那些在巷子里光着屁股尖叫乱窜的孩子们吧，或者那些到处都是的佝偻着肩背满脸纹身的奴隶们像蟑螂一样步履不停的身影。强大的瓦兰提斯，九个自由城邦里最大与人口最多的城邦。但是古代的战争已经使这个城市人口锐减，但不管怎样，瓦兰提斯的大片土地还是开始吞噬着屹立其上的广大地区，尘归尘，土归土。美丽的瓦兰提斯，泉水与鲜花之城。但是它半数的喷泉已经干涸，一半的水池业已干裂停滞。开花的藤本植物爬满了墙上和人行道的每个裂缝，幼嫩的树苗则在废弃的商铺和无顶的庙宇墙上扎根。
Old Volantis, first daughter of Valyria, the dwarf mused. Proud Volantis, queen of the Rhoyne and mistress of the Summer Sea, home to noble lords and lovely ladies of the most ancient blood. Never mind the packs of naked children that roamed the alleys screaming in shrill voices, or the bravos standing in the doors of wineshops fingering their sword hilts, or the slaves with their bent backs and tattooed faces who scurried everywhere like cockroaches. Mighty Volantis, grandest and most populous of the Nine Free Cities. Ancient wars had depopulated much of the city, however, and large areas of Volantis had begun to sink back into the mud on which it stood. Beautiful Volantis, city of fountains and flowers. But half the fountains were dry, half the pools cracked and stagnant. Flowering vines sent up creepers from every crack in the wall or pavement, and young trees had taken root in the walls of abandoned shops and roofless temples.
接着还有那股气味，飘散在潮湿炎热的空气里，浓烈、特别、无处不在。混杂着鱼腥、花香和大象的粪臭，甜美的、泥土味的、死亡的、腐烂的。“这个城市闻起来就像个明日黄花的妓女，”提利昂称。“一个皮肤松弛的老妇用香水涂抹私处以掩盖双腿间的恶臭。不是我在抱怨，关于妓女，年轻点的闻起来好些，但是老的那些技巧更甚。”
And then there was the smell. It hung in the hot, humid air, rich, rank, pervasive. There’s fish in it, and flowers, and some elephant dung as well. Something sweet and something earthy and something dead and rotten. “This city smells like an old whore,” Tyrion announced. “Like some sagging slattern who has drenched her privy parts in perfume to drown the stench between her legs. Not that I am complaining. With whores, the young ones smell much better, but the old ones know more tricks.”
“你当然对此比我了解。”
“You would know more of that than I do.”
“啊，当然。我们见面的那家妓院，你找间房睡过了么？是不是那位在你膝上扭动纯洁的姐姐啊？”
“Ah, of course. That brothel where we met, did you take it for a sept? Was that your virgin sister squirming in your lap?”
这让他露出了怒容。“让你的舌头消停会儿要么我就把它打个蝴蝶结。”
That made him scowl. “Give that tongue of yours a rest unless you’d rather I tied it in a knot.”
提利昂咽下了他的反驳。自从上次他将大个的骑士推了老远后他的嘴唇依旧又肥又肿。一双硬手而没有幽默对婚姻来说简直是灾难。自赛尔霍利斯以来的一路上他应该发现这点了。他的思绪回到了他的靴子上，那些脚趾头处的蘑菇。他的捕获者没像他应有的那样彻底搜查他。总有逃脱的方法。至少保证瑟熙不会捉到一个活着的我。
Tyrion swallowed his retort. His lip was still fat and swollen from the last time he had pushed the big knight too far. Hard hands and no sense of humor makes for a bad marriage. That much he’d learned on the road from Selhorys. His thoughts went to his boot, to the mushrooms in the toe. His captor had not searched him quite as thoroughly as he might have. There is always that escape. Cersei will not have me alive, at least.
更远的南方，繁荣的景象又开始显现。废弃的房屋不那么常见了，没穿衣服的孩子也消失了，而门口站着的亡命徒们则衣着华丽起来。他们路过的有些旅馆看起来睡觉时候也无须过虑会被抹了脖子。路边一排铁柱上挂着随风摇晃的灯笼。街道变的宽阔，建筑也更加庄严。有些顶着彩绘玻璃的圆顶，在聚拢的黄昏中，有着点燃的火焰在下面燃烧，圆顶游览变红接着变绿，最后变紫。
Farther south, signs of prosperity began to reappear. Abandoned buildings were seen less often, the naked children vanished, the bravos in the doorways seemed more sumptuously dressed. A few of the inns they passed actually looked like places where a man might sleep without fear of having his throat slit. Lanterns swung from iron stanchions along the river road, swaying when the wind blew. The streets grew broader, the buildings more imposing. Some were topped with great domes of colored glass. In the gathering dusk, with fires lit beneath them, the domes glowed blue and red and green and purple.
即使如此，空气中依旧流淌着某些让提利昂柑橘不舒服的东西。罗伊达的西岸，他知道，瓦兰提斯的码头上挤满了水手，奴隶和商人，而酒馆，旅舍还有妓院都应和着他们的需要。而在河东岸，狭海对面的异乡人则少见的多。我们在这里不受欢迎，侏儒发现。
Even so, there was something in the air that made Tyrion uneasy. West of the Rhoyne, he knew, the wharves of Volantis teemed with sailors, slaves, and traders, and the wineshops, inns, and brothels all catered to them. East of the river, strangers from across the seas were seen less seldom. We are not wanted here, the dwarf realized.
当他们第一次经过一头大象时，提利昂不可抑制的盯着它。在他还是个孩子的时候，兰尼斯特港的小动物园里曾经有头大象（竟然有动物园……太高级了），但是在他七岁那年她就死了……而这只灰白的巨兽看起来有她两倍那么大。
The first time they passed an elephant, Tyrion could not help but stare. There had been an elephant in the menagerie at Lannisport when he had been a boy, but she had died when he was seven … and this great grey behemoth looked to be twice her size.
继续向前，他们跟在了一头小一点的象后面，它像白骨一样白，拉着一辆华丽的马车。“牛车是不是一个没牛的牛车？”提利昂问他的捕获者。骑士以沉默回应他的妙语，于是他也重新回归沉默，转而凝视前面那头晃动着臀部的白矮象。
Farther on, they fell in behind a smaller elephant, white as old bone and pulling an ornate cart. “Is an oxcart an oxcart without an ox?” Tyrion asked his captor. When that sally got no response, he lapsed back into silence, contemplating the rolling rump of the white dwarf elephant ahead of them.
瓦兰提斯大街小巷到处都是白矮象。当他们走到离黑墙和长桥附近拥挤的街区更近的地方时，他们看见了很多白象。巨大的灰象也不是不常见——背上拖着城堡的巨型野兽。在夜晚不太明亮的光线下，那些运粪车出来了，被那些半裸的奴隶推着铲除那些大象小象留下的热气腾腾的粪便，这就是他们的工作。总有成群的苍蝇紧跟着那些推车，所以这些运粪奴隶们的脸颊上就纹上了苍蝇以彰显他们的职业。这个对我那甜美的姐姐来说倒是个不错的交易，提利昂想到。她可爱的粉色脸颊上要是纹上一个小小的铲子和几只苍蝇看起来可漂亮极了。
Volantis was overrun with white dwarf elephants. As they drew closer to the Black Wall and the crowded districts near the Long Bridge, they saw a dozen of them. Big grey elephants were not uncommon either—huge beasts with castles on their backs. And in the half-light of evening the dung carts had come out, attended by half-naked slaves whose task it was to shovel up the steaming piles left by elephants both great and small. Swarms of flies followed the carts, so the dung slaves had flies tattooed upon their cheeks, to mark them for what they were. There’s a trade for my sweet sister, Tyrion mused. She’d look so pretty with a little shovel and flies tattooed on those sweet pink cheeks.
这时候他们简直像爬一样的前进。沿河的道路挤满了车辆行人，这几乎是一股向南的洪流。骑士就夹在里面，像一根顺应水流的浮木。提利昂盯着过往的人潮。十个里面有九个的脸上都纹着奴隶标记。“这么多的奴隶……他们都要去哪儿？”
By then they had slowed to a crawl. The river road was thick with traffic, almost all of it flowing south. The knight went with it, a log caught in a current. Tyrion eyed the passing throngs. Nine men of every ten bore slave marks on their cheeks. “So many slaves … where are they all going?”
“日落时分红袍僧会点燃他们的夜火。而大神僧会发表演讲。我也想尽可能的避免，但是去长桥的路上一定得路过红庙。
“The red priests light their nightfires at sunset. The High Priest will be speaking. I would avoid it if I could, but to reach the Long Bridge we must pass the red temple.”
三个街道之外，道路在他们眼前开阔起来，接着他们就来到了一个巨型的火炬照明的广场。七神救我，这足有贝勒大圣堂的三倍大。数不清的支柱、台阶、墙垛、拱梁、圆顶，那些高塔鳞次栉比的争相攀附好像他们都是从一块整个的巨石上雕刻出来的，光之神之庙隐似伊耿高峰（Aegon’s High Hill）。庙墙呈现出红黄金橘叠加混合形成的百种色彩，如日落时的晚霞融汇层叠。它细长的高塔盘旋向上，在它们直指天际的同时舞动着凝固的火焰。火焰凝成了石块。神庙梯级边燃烧着巨型的夜火，在其中央是刚刚开始演讲的大神僧。
Three blocks later the street opened up before them onto a huge torchlit plaza, and there it stood. Seven save me, that’s got to be three times the size of the Great Sept of Baelor. An enormity of pillars, steps, buttresses, bridges, domes, and towers flowing into one another as if they had all been chiseled from one collossal rock, the Temple of the Lord of Light loomed like Aegon’s High Hill. A hundred hues of red, yellow, gold, and orange met and melded in the temple walls, dissolving one into the other like clouds at sunset. Its slender towers twisted ever upward, frozen flames dancing as they reached for the sky. Fire turned to stone. Huge nightfires burned beside the temple steps, and between them the High Priest had begun to speak.
班奈罗。他站在一根红石柱上，由一条细长的石桥连接着一座高耸的平台，在那里站着一些地位稍低的僧侣和侍僧。侍僧们穿着浅黄和亮橘的袍子而僧侣和僧女则穿着红色。
Benerro. The priest stood atop a red stone pillar, joined by a slender stone bridge to a lofty terrace where the lesser priests and acolytes stood. The acolytes were clad in robes of pale yellow and bright orange, priests and priestesses in red.
他们前方的大广场挤到差不多实心，大多数的参拜者都穿着袖子上缝了破烂红布的衣服或者在额头上系了一条红布。每一双眼睛都看着高处的神僧，愿神拯救他们。“借过，”骑士在他的马挤过人群时低声咆哮。“清出一条路。”瓦兰提斯人低语着对他们投以愤恨的眼神不清不愿的让开了路。
The great plaza before them was packed almost solid. Many and more of the worshipers were wearing some scrap of red cloth pinned to their sleeves or tied around their brows. Every eye was on the high priest, save theirs. “Make way,” the knight growled as his horse pushed through the throng. “Clear a path.” The Volantenes gave way resentfully, with mutters and angry looks.
班奈罗的高声调则很易听清。他又高又瘦，面容憔悴，皮肤白的堪比牛奶。他的双颊下巴上纹满了火焰刺青，剃着光头好做出一个亮红色的面具盖满他的眼睛周围并且盘旋而下环绕着他没有唇的嘴。“那是个奴隶刺青吗？”提利昂问。
Benerro’s high voice carried well. Tall and thin, he had a drawn face and skin white as milk. Flames had been tattooed across his cheeks and chin and shaven head to make a bright red mask that crackled about his eyes and coiled down and around his lipless mouth. “Is that a slave tattoo?” asked Tyrion.
骑士点了点头。“红庙在他们年幼时就买下他们教育他们成为僧侣、庙妓或者战士。看那儿。”他指着台阶，在那里神庙门前站着一列身着华丽铠甲和橘色斗篷的士兵，他们的长矛顶端都如同燃烧的火焰。“燃烧之手，光之王的神圣士兵，神庙的守卫者。”
The knight nodded. “The red temple buys them as children and makes them priests or temple prostitutes or warriors. Look there.” He pointed at the steps, where a line of men in ornate armor and orange cloaks stood before the temple’s doors, clasping spears with points like writhing flames. “The Fiery Hand. The Lord of Light’s sacred soldiers, defenders of the temple.”
火骑士。“那请劳烦告诉我，这只手有几根手指？”
Fire knights. “And how many fingers does this hand have, pray?”
“1000根，不多不少。每一支火焰熄灭都伴随着新火焰的诞生。”
“One thousand. Never more, and never less. A new flame is kindled for every one that gutters out.”
班奈罗用一根手指指向月亮，握紧了拳头，夸张的伸着手。当他的声音一点点抬升时，火焰从他的手指尖飞快窜的“嗖嗖”声出引的人群吸气连连。神僧同样能让燃烧的火焰在空气中留痕。瓦雷利亚的象形文字，提利昂能认出了十个里的两个；其中一个写着“厄运”而另一个是“黑暗”。
Benerro jabbed a finger at the moon, made a fist, spread his hands wide. When his voice rose in a crescendo, flames leapt from his fingers with a sudden whoosh and made the crowd gasp. The priest could trace fiery letters in the air as well. Valyrian glyphs. Tyrion recognized perhaps two in ten; one was Doom, the other Darkness.
人群中爆发出一阵喊叫。女人们垂泪而男人们挥舞着他们的拳头。对此我有种不好的感觉。侏儒想起了弥赛拉起航去多恩的那天，他们回红堡的途中爆发的暴动。
Shouts erupted from the crowd. Women were weeping and men were shaking their fists. I have a bad feeling about this. The dwarf was reminded of the day Myrcella sailed for Dorne and the riot that boiled up as they made their way back to the Red Keep.
提利昂回想起来半学士哈尔顿曾经提起过要红袍僧为小格里夫所用。鉴于现在他已经亲自见识了这个人所言所行，他坚信那会使个坏主意。他希望格里夫的感觉能灵敏些。有些同盟可是比敌人更危险的存在。但是康宁顿大人不得不自个儿想明白了。我现在也自身难保。
Haldon Halfmaester had spoken of using the red priest to Young Griff’s advantage, Tyrion recalled. Now that he had seen and heard the man himself, that struck him as a very bad idea. He hoped that Griff had better sense. Some allies are more dangerous than enemies. But Lord Connington will need to puzzle that one out for himself. I am like to be a head on a spike.
神僧正指着神庙后面的黑墙，确切的说是指着上面的矮墙，那里有一些武装的守卫正站着俯视他们。“他说了神庙？”提利昂问骑士。
The priest was pointing at the Black Wall behind the temple, gesturing up at its parapets, where a handful of armored guardsmen stood gazing down. “What is he saying?” Tyrion asked the knight.
“丹妮莉丝正面临极大危险。黑暗的眼睛落在了她身上，黑夜的走狗正密谋她的覆灭，在欺诈的庙宇里向错误的神灵祈祷……与不信神的异国人密谋背叛。
“That Daenerys stands in peril. The dark eye has fallen upon her, and the minions of night are plotting her destruction, praying to their false gods in temples of deceit … conspiring at betrayal with godless outlanders …”
提利昂后颈汗毛倒立。伊耿王子在这里找不到盟友，红袍僧笃信古老的预言——一个英雄会将世界从黑暗中拯救出来。一个，不是两个。丹妮莉丝有龙，而伊耿没有。侏儒就算不是先知也知道当班奈罗和他的追随者知道有另一个坦格利安存在后会如何应对。格里夫也会知道的，当然，他想，惊讶的发现他竟然如此担心。
The hairs on the back of Tyrion’s neck began to prickle. Prince Aegon will find no friend here. The red priest spoke of ancient prophecy, a prophecy that foretold the coming of a hero to deliver the world from darkness. One hero. Not two. Daenerys has dragons, Aegon does not. The dwarf did not need to be a prophet himself to foresee how Benerro and his followers might react to a second Targaryen. Griff will see that too, surely, he thought, surprised to find how much he cared.
骑士已经在广场后方的人群中挤出一条道路，忽视他们挤过人群时收到的咒骂。有个男人一步跨到他们前面，但是他的捕获者仅仅是按住剑柄将长剑略微抽出露出一小截寒铁，那个挡路的男人就就溜走了，而一瞬间一条小道展现在他们眼前。骑士跨上坐骑一阵小跑将拥挤的人群甩在身后。在很长的一段时间内提利昂依旧能听到班奈罗的声音在身后渐渐模糊，接着就是他的话语激起的一阵咆哮，一瞬间如雷鸣滚滚。
The knight had forced their way through most of the press at the back of the plaza, ignoring the curses that were flung at them as they passed. One man stepped in front of them, but his captor gripped the hilt of his longsword and drew it just far enough to show a foot of naked steel. The man melted away, and all at once an alley opened up before them. The knight urged his mount to a trot, and they left the crowd behind them. For a while Tyrion could still hear Benerro’s voice growing fainter at their back and the roars his words provoked, sudden as thunder.
他们来到一个马厩前。骑士下马，狠命的捶门直到一个脸上纹着马头的面容枯槁的奴隶跑来。在他的捕获者叫醒马厩的主人与他就马匹和马鞍讨教还价的时候，提利昂被粗暴的从马鞍上拉下来拷在一根马栓上。与将一个半人运过整个世界的费用相比卖马所得就便宜太多了。提利昂感觉到在不远的将来他的命运会与一艘船联系起来。大概他也成了一个预言家了。
They came upon a stable. The knight dismounted, then hammered on the door until a haggard slave with a horsehead on his cheek came running. The dwarf was pulled down roughly from the saddle and lashed to a post whilst his captor woke the stable’s owner and haggled with him over the price of his horse and saddle. Cheaper to sell a horse than to ship one half across the world. Tyrion sensed a ship in his immediate future. Perhaps he was a prophet after all.
当成交结束，骑士抽出他的武器，盾牌，还有肩上的褡裢询问最近的铁匠铺的方向。事实上那家店也早已歇业，但是在骑士的大喊中还是很快开门了。铁匠瞥了一眼提利昂，接着点点头接受了一把的钱币。“来这儿，”骑士命令他的囚犯。他抽出匕首割开提利昂的绑带。“谢谢，”侏儒一边揉着手腕一边说，但是骑士只是大笑着说，“把你的感恩留给某个受得起的人吧，小恶魔。接下来的你可不会喜欢。”
When the dickering was done, the knight slung his weapons, shield, and saddlebag over his shoulder and asked for directions to the nearest smithy. That proved shuttered too, but opened quick enough at the knight’s shout. The smith gave Tyrion a squint, then nodded and accepted a fistful of coins. “Come here,” the knight told his prisoner. He drew his dagger and slit Tyrion’s bonds apart. “My thanks,” said the dwarf as he rubbed his wrists, but the knight only laughed and said, “Save your gratitude for someone who deserves it, Imp. You will not like this next bit.”
他说的没错。
He was not wrong.
那手铐是黑铁的，又硬又沉，若侏儒算是个鉴定家的话，他得说每个足有两磅重，还不算上链条的重量。“看起来我得比所想的更害怕些才对，”提利昂趁着最后几个环被锤紧的同时坦白。每一击几乎都让他连肩膀都震起来。“或者你认为我在这些发育不良的小短腿的帮助下跑掉？”
The manacles were black iron, thick and heavy, each weighing a good two pounds, if the dwarf was any judge. The chains added even more weight. “I must be more fearsome than I knew,” Tyrion confessed as the last links were hammered closed. Each blow sent a shock up his arm almost to the shoulder. “Or were you afraid that I would dash away on these stunted little legs of mine?”
铁匠没有从他的工作中分心，但是骑士阴暗的笑了笑。“你的嘴更让我担心，不是你的腿。带上镣铐你就是个奴隶。没有人会听你说一个字，即使那些说维斯特洛伊语言的人。”
The ironsmith did not so much as look up from his work, but the knight chuckled darkly. “It’s your mouth that concerns me, not your legs. In fetters, you’re a slave. No one will listen to a word you say, not even those who speak the tongue of Westeros.”
“这一切完全没有必要，”提利昂反对。“我会做一个听话的小囚犯的，我会的，我会的。”
“There’s no need for this,” Tyrion protested. “I will be a good little prisoner, I will, I will.”
“那就证明这点，闭上你的嘴。”
“Prove it, then, and shut your mouth.”
所以在铁链完成后，他低下头要紧了舌头，手腕间，脚踝间，手腕与脚踝间都连着锁链。这些该死的东西比我自个儿还重。但是至少他还有口气。他的捕获者可以轻易砍掉他的脑袋，毕竟那也是瑟熙所要求的。没把它弄下来是他的捕获者的第一个失误。在瓦兰提斯和君临间隔着半个世界，而那之间的变数可谓众多，爵士。
So he bowed his head and bit his tongue as the chains were fixed, wrist to wrist, wrist to ankle, ankle to ankle. These bloody things weigh more than I do. Still, at least he drew breath. His captor could just as easily have cut his head off. That was all Cersei required, after all. Not striking it off straightaway had been his captor’s first mistake. There is half a world between Volantis and King’s Landing, and much and more can happen along the way, ser.
接下来他们步行赶路，提利昂在努力跟上不耐烦的大步流星的前进着的捕获者时锁链叮当作响。每当他威胁落后，骑士就会抓住他的脚镣一阵猛拽，于是侏儒便跌跌撞撞的跟在他身边。这本会更糟，他还可以用条鞭子抽着我走的。
The rest of the way they went by foot, Tyrion clanking and clattering as he struggled to keep up with his captor’s long, impatient strides. Whenever he threatened to fall behind, the knight would seize his fetters and yank them roughly, sending the dwarf stumbling and hopping along beside him. It could be worse. He could be urging me along with a whip.
瓦兰提斯坐落于罗伊达入海的河口处，城市以河为界的两片由长桥相连。城市最古老最富裕的地区在河的东岸，但是雇佣剑士、野蛮人和其他粗野的外族人在那里不受欢迎，所以他们得过桥去西边。
Volantis straddled one mouth of the Rhoyne where the river kissed the sea, its two halves joined by the Long Bridge. The oldest, richest part of the city was east of the river, but sellswords, barbarians, and other uncouth outlanders were not welcome there, so they must needs cross over to the west.
通往长桥的大门是座雕刻有斯芬克斯、人头狮身蝎尾兽（不记得遗憾客谋杀丹尼时是不是用的就是这个）、龙以及其他更奇怪的生物的黑石拱门。在石拱门之外延伸着的是瓦雷利亚全盛时期建造的桥面，它熔岩石砌的桥体下支撑着巨大的桥墩。路宽仅允许两辆马车并行，所以当向东的马车和向西的马车相遇时，不得不减速徐行。
The gateway to the Long Bridge was a black stone arch carved with sphinxes, manticores, dragons, and creatures stranger still. Beyond the arch stretched the great span that the Valyrians had built at the height of their glory, its fused stone roadway supported by massive piers. The road was just wide enough for two carts to pass abreast, so whenever a wagon headed west passed one going east, both had to slow to a crawl.
在他们还能前进这点上其实还不错。走了三分之一的路程后，一辆满载甜瓜的马车和一辆堆着高高的地毯的马车的轮子发生碰擦，导致整个交通陷入瘫痪。甚至步行的人也停下来围观司机间的尖利指责与咒骂，但其实抓住提利昂的锁链在人群中硬是挤出了一条容他俩通行的路。在挤的途中，一个男孩试图偷他的钱包，但只消手肘的一下碰撞便让小偷半张脸都洒满了血。
It was well they were afoot. A third of the way out, a wagon laden with melons had gotten its wheels tangled with one piled high with silken carpets and brought all wheeled traffic to a halt. Much of the foot traffic had stopped as well, to watch the drivers curse and scream at one another, but the knight grabbed hold of Tyrion’s chain and bulled a path through the throng for both of them. In the middle of the press, a boy tried to reach into his purse, but a hard elbow put an end to that and spread the thief’s bloody nose across half his face.
建筑物在他们两边拔地而起：商店，庙宇，酒馆，旅店，锡瓦斯棋棋室还有妓院。它们中的大多数有三四层楼高，一层叠着一层，顶楼几乎相连。过桥感觉像是穿过一条火炬隧道。沿着桥走是各种商店摊棚；纺织工人们与吹玻璃的、造蜡烛的和卖鱼妇挤破头得向过往行人展示兜售他们的商品还有鳗鱼牡蛎。每个金匠店铺门口都有守卫把守，而每个香料店则有两个，因为他们的商品有两倍的价值。某处不时的旅行者们可以在商铺之间的空隙瞟到一眼他们正在跨越的河流。向北看罗伊达像是一条宽广的闪着星星的黑色绸带，足有君临黑水河的五倍宽。从桥向南看河则变得豁然开朗，与海洋相拥。
Buildings rose to either side of them: shops and temples, taverns and inns, cyvasse parlors and brothels. Most were three or four stories tall, each floor overhanging the one beneath it. Their top floors almost kissed. Crossing the bridge felt like passing through a torchlit tunnel. Along the span were shops and stalls of every sort; weavers and lacemakers displayed their wares cheek by jowl with glassblowers, candlemakers, and fishwives selling eels and oysters. Each goldsmith had a guard at his door, and every spicer had two, for their goods were twice as valuable. Here and there, between the shops, a traveler might catch a glimpse of the river he was crossing. To the north the Rhoyne was a broad black ribbon bright with stars, five times as wide as the Blackwater Rush at King’s Landing. South of the bridge the river opened up to embrace the briny sea.
在桥中央，小偷扒手的断手像穿在线上的洋葱一样钉在道路旁的铁柱上。有三个头也在列——两个男人和一个女人，他们的罪行潦草的写在他们下面的板子上。一对覆盖着光亮头盔和银色铠甲上衣的枪兵把守着它们，他们的脸上画着如翡翠般碧绿的虎纹。不时的他们会挥舞长矛赶走那些窥伺死尸的秃鹫、海鸥还有食腐的乌鸦。但这些鸟很快又会飞回头颅这里。
At the bridge’s center span, the severed hands of thieves and cutpurses hung like strings of onions from iron stanchions along the roadway. Three heads were on display as well—two men and a woman, their crimes scrawled on tablets underneath them. A pair of spearmen attended them, clad in polished helms and shirts of silver mail. Across their cheeks were tiger stripes as green as jade. From time to time the guards waved their spears to chase away the kestrels, gulls, and carrion crows paying court to the deceased. The birds returned to the heads within moments.
“他们做了什么？”提利昂无辜的询问。
“What did they do?” Tyrion inquired innocently.
骑士看了一眼牌上的指示。“那个女的是个对她女主人抬手的奴隶。老点的男人被控煽动叛乱与为银女王的间谍。”
The knight glanced at the inscriptions. “The woman was a slave who raised her hand to her mistress. The older man was accused of fomenting rebellion and spying for the dragon queen.”
“那个年轻的呢？”
“And the young one?”
“杀了他的父亲。”
“Killed his father.”
提利昂又看了一眼那个腐烂的头颅。为什么，看起来它的嘴唇似乎在微笑。
Tyrion gave the rotting head a second look. Why, it almost looks as if those lips are smiling.
继续走，骑士停下来琢磨了一下一个在紫色天鹅绒底座上展示的宝石镶嵌的三重冠。他忽略了它继续走了几步，但是在一个皮匠的摊棚前又停下来对一副手套讨价还价起来。提利昂感谢这点停顿，他们仓促的行进已经让他开始气喘，而他的手腕也已经被手铐磨得肿的老高。
Farther on, the knight paused briefly to consider a jeweled tiara displayed upon a bed of purple velvet. He passed that by, but a few steps on he stopped again to haggle over a pair of gloves at a leatherworker’s stall. Tyrion was grateful for the respites. The headlong pace had left him puffing, and his wrists were chafed raw from the manacles.
从长桥老远的尽头，只需走一段就可以穿过丰富的河西侧的河滨街区，继续往下穿过火炬照耀着的挤着水手、奴隶和醉醺醺的寻欢者街道。有一次一只大象拖着沉重的步伐路过，驮着半打半裸的奴隶女孩在上面的小城堡上挥着手，嘲笑着不时偷瞥她们胸部的路人并高喊着“莫拉阔，莫拉阔”。这番神魂颠倒的情景让提利昂几乎蹒跚的踏进一坨无不昭示着一头大象经过痕迹的冒着热气的粪便。他在最后一秒被骑士拉到一边避免了踩下去的悲剧，而骑士拽铁链拽得太狠导致他几乎晃到绊住脚。
From the far end of the Long Bridge, it was only a short walk through the teeming waterfront districts of the west bank, down torchlit streets crowded with sailors, slaves, and drunken merrymakers. Once an elephant lumbered past with a dozen half-naked slave girls waving from the castle on its back, teasing passersby with glimpses of their breasts and crying, “Malaquo, Malaquo.” They made such an entrancing sight that Tyrion almost waddled right into the steaming pile of dung the elephant had left to mark its passage. He was saved at the last instant when the knight snatched him aside, yanking on his chain so hard it made him reel and stumble.
“还有多远？”侏儒问。
“How much farther?” the dwarf asked.
“就在那而，鱼商广场。”
“Just there. Fishmonger’s Square.”
他们的目的地原来是商人之屋，这座四层的的巨物蹲踞在货仓、妓院和水边的客栈中，像一个儿孙环绕的体型庞大的胖子。它的公共房间比维斯特洛伊半数的城堡大厅都要大，它是个有着无数凹室和隐秘角落的昏暗的迷宫，发黑的房梁和有裂缝的天花板间回荡着水手、商贩、船长、货币兑换商、托运商、奴隶们用几乎半百种不同语言咒骂，扯谎、相互欺骗的嘈杂声。
Their destination proved to be the Merchant’s House, a four-story monstrosity that squatted amongst the warehouses, brothels, and taverns of the waterside like some enormous fat man surrounded by children. Its common room was larger than the great halls of half the castles in Westeros, a dim-lit maze of a place with a hundred private alcoves and hidden nooks whose blackened beams and cracked ceilings echoed to the din of sailors, traders, captains, money changers, shippers, and slavers, lying, cursing, and cheating each other in half a hundred different tongues.
提利昂赞同这个来到旅馆的选择。迟早害羞小姐号会来到瓦蓝提斯。这是这个城市最大的旅社，是托运商，船长和商人们的首选。在这个公共房间的角角落落都进行着一系列的交易。他所知的瓦蓝提斯知识这样告诉他。让格里夫带着鸭子和哈尔顿在这出现吧，那么他就能很快重获自由了。
Tyrion approved the choice of hostelry. Soon or late the Shy Maid must reach Volantis. This was the city’s biggest inn, first choice for shippers, captains, and merchantmen. A lot of business was done in that cavernous warren of a common room. He knew enough of Volantis to know that. Let Griff turn up here with Duck and Haldon, and he would be free again soon enough.
同时，他得耐心。他的机会总会来的。
Meanwhile, he would be patient. His chance would come.
楼上的房间非常小，尤其是四楼这些便宜的房间。在旅馆倾斜屋顶下方的角落里，捕获者选择的卧室有着低矮的天花板、气味难闻的塌陷羽毛床，还有倾斜的木地板，这让提利昂想起了鹰巢城的天牢。至少这个房间还有墙，而且还有窗户，那些是房间主要的风景，旁边是嵌在墙上方便用来拴住奴隶的铁环。他的捕获者点了支牛油蜡烛后便把提利昂的锁链栓在铁环上。
The rooms upstairs proved rather less than grand, however, particularly the cheap ones up on the fourth floor. Wedged into a corner of the building beneath a sloping roof, the bedchamber his captor had engaged featured a low ceiling, a sagging feather bed with an unpleasant odor, and a slanting wood-plank floor that reminded Tyrion of his sojourn at the Eyrie. At least this room has walls. It had windows too; those were its chief amenity, along with the iron ring set in the wall, so useful for chaining up one’s slaves. His captor paused only long enough to light a tallow candle before securing Tyrion’s chains to the ring.
“你一定要吗？”侏儒无力的抗议。“我去哪里，窗户外面？”
“Must you?” the dwarf protested, rattling feebly. “Where am I going to go, out the window?”
“你可以试试。”
“You might.”
“我们在四层楼高，而且我可不会飞。”
“We are four floors up, and I cannot fly.”
“你可以掉下去，我要你活着。”
“You can fall. I want you alive.”
是啊，不过为什么呢？瑟曦可不会关心。提利昂把锁链弄的叮当作响。“我知道你是谁，爵士。”这并不难猜。他外套上的熊，他盾牌上的武器，他提到的失去的统治权，他说：“我知道你是谁正如你知道我是谁，你也知道我曾是国王之手，和蜘蛛出席御前会议。你有没有兴趣知道是太监让我踏上这条旅途？”他和詹姆，但我离开了我的兄弟。 “我和你一样都是他的人。我们不该是敌人。”
Aye, but why? Cersei is not like to care. Tyrion rattled his chains. “I know who you are, ser.” It had not been hard to puzzle out. The bear on his surcoat, the arms on his shield, the lost lordship he had mentioned. “I know what you are. And if you know who I am, you also know that I was the King’s Hand and sat in council with the Spider. Would it interest you to know that it was the eunuch who dispatched me on this journey?” Him and Jaime, but I’ll leave my brother out of it. “I am as much his creature as you are. We ought not be at odds.”
这并没有让骑士发笑。“我不否认我拿了八爪蜘蛛的钱，但我并不是他的人。而如今我的忠诚在别处。”
That did not please the knight. “I took the Spider’s coin, I’ll not deny it, but I was never his creature. And my loyalties lie elsewhere now.”
“为瑟曦？别傻了，我老姐只想要我的脑袋，你有把好剑。干嘛不结束这场闹剧让我们都轻松点呢？”
“With Cersei? More fool you. All my sister requires is my head, and you have a fine sharp sword. Why not end this farce now and spare us both?”
骑士笑了。“这是侏儒的伎俩吗？求死以期望我让你活下来？”他走向门。“我去厨房给你找点吃的。”
The knight laughed. “Is this some dwarf’s trick? Beg for death in hopes I’ll let you live?” He went to the door. “I’ll bring you something from the kitchens.”
“你真是太好了。我会在这里等的。”
“How kind of you. I’ll wait here.”
“我知道你会。”但是当骑士离开后，他还是用一把重重的铁钥匙把他关在了门后。商人之屋以其锁而闻名。安全程度堪比监狱，侏儒苦涩的想，但是至少还有窗户。
“I know you will.” Yet when the knight left, he locked the door behind him with a heavy iron key. The Merchant’s House was famous for its locks. As secure as a gaol, the dwarf thought bitterly, but at least there are those windows.
提利昂知道他逃出枷锁的概率小之又小，但即使这样，他还是觉得有必要得试试。他努力将一只手抽离手铐，但是知识磨掉了更多的皮肤让手腕被血锁润滑，而无论他怎么又拉又扭，还是不能从墙上拔下那个铁环。操XXX，他想，在铁链允许范围内猛的一蹲。他的腿开始抽筋了。着看起来会是个很糟糕难过的夜晚。这仅是苦难的开端，我从不怀疑。
Tyrion knew that the chances of his escaping his chains were little and less, but even so, he felt obliged to try. His efforts to slip a hand through the manacle served only to scrap off more skin and leave his wrist slick with blood, and all his tugging or twisting could not pull the iron ring from the wall. Bugger this, he thought, slumping back as far as his chains would allow. His legs had begun to cramp. This was going to be a hellishly uncomfortable night. The first of many, I do not doubt.
房间沉闷，所以骑士打开了百叶窗通通风。可以勉强看到建筑屋檐下的一角，这个房间很幸运的有两个窗户。一个可以看到长桥和河对岸瓦蓝提斯黑墙环绕的心脏地带。另一个则能看见下面的广场。鱼商广场，莫尔蒙是这么叫它的。若将锁链拉到最紧，整个人倾斜到一边并让铁环支持体重，提利昂发现他可以看到广场。虽然不用像从莱莎？艾林的天牢掉到地上那么久，但是足以让我死掉。也许若我喝了酒的话……
The room was stifling, so the knight had opened the shutters to let in a cross breeze. Cramped into a corner of the building under the eaves, the chamber was fortunate in having two windows. One looked toward the Long Bridge and the black-walled heart of Old Volantis across the river. The other opened on the square below. Fishermonger’s Square, Mormont called it. As tight as the chains were, Tyrion found he could see out the latter by leaning sideways and letting the iron ring support his weight. Not as long a fall as the one from Lysa Arryn’s sky cells, but it would leave me just as dead. Perhaps if I were drunk …
即使到了现在这个时间，广场依旧人满为患，水手们高声喧哗，妓女们寻找着恩客而商人们则谈着生意。一个红袍女僧匆匆走过，跟着一打拿着火炬的侍僧，身后摆动着他们摩擦着脚踝的袍子。别处还有一对锡瓦斯棋玩家在小旅馆外杀得正欢。一个奴隶站在他们桌旁，在棋盘上方举着一个灯笼。提利昂能听见一个女人的歌声，他听不懂个词，但是语调温柔忧伤。若我知道她在唱什么，大概会哭出声来。近处，一堆人围在一对杂耍戏子，看着他们将火炬来回抛掷。
Even at this hour the square was crowded, with sailors roistering, whores prowling for custom, and merchants going about their business. A red priestess scurried past, attended by a dozen acolytes with torches, their robes whisking about their ankles. Elsewhere a pair of cyvasse players waged war outside a tavern. A slave stood beside their table, holding a lantern over the board. Tyrion could hear a woman singing. The words were strange, the tune was soft and sad. If I knew what she was singing, I might cry. Closer to hand, a crowd was gathering around a pair of jugglers throwing flaming torches at each other.
他的补货者一会儿就回来了，拿着两个啤酒杯和一只烧鸭。他用脚关上了门，把鸭子撕成两半扔了一半给侏儒。若不是他抬手的时候锁链把他拉住了他本来可以在空中接住的。于是相反，那只鸟击中了他的太阳穴流下了滚烫的肥油，他不得不坐下来拖着叮叮当当的脚镣伸手去够它。他第三次尝试，终于够到了它，于是他高兴的用牙把它撕开。“能来点淡啤酒下饭吗？”
His captor returned shortly, carrying two tankards and a roasted duck. He kicked the door shut, ripped the duck in two, and tossed half of it to Tyrion. He would have snatched it from the air, but his chains brought him up short when he tried to lift his arms. Instead the bird struck his temple and slid hot and greasy down his face, and he had to hunker down and stretch for it with fetters clanking. He got it on the third try and tore into it happily with his teeth. “Some ale to wash this down?”
莫尔蒙递给他一个杯子。“大多数的瓦兰提斯人都喝醉了，你干嘛例外呢？”
Mormont handed him a tankard. “Most of Volantis is getting drunk, why not you?”
淡啤酒也很香甜。尝起来有点水果味。提利昂满意的咽下一大口打了个嗝。这是个锡制的酒杯，沉重的很，喝干后用它丢向他的脑袋，他想。若我幸运的话，这可能会打碎他的头骨。如果我非常幸运的话，那我就打偏了等着他用他的拳头把我照死里打。他又咽了一大口。“今天是不是什么神圣的日子？”
The ale was sweet as well. It tasted of fruit. Tyrion drank a healthy swallow and belched happily. The tankard was pewter, very heavy. Empty it and fling it at his head, he thought. If I am lucky, it might crack his skull. If I’m very lucky, it will miss, and he’ll beat me to death with his fists. He took another gulp. “Is this some holy day?”
“他们大选的第三天，总共持续十天。十天的疯狂。火炬游行，演讲，伶人表演，诗人吟唱，舞者起舞，勇者为他们的候选人进行殊死搏斗，大象的身上涂着那些准元老的名字。那些个杂耍的人就是为麦西索表演的。”
“Third day of their elections. They last for ten. Ten days of madness. Torchlight marches, speeches, mummers and minstrels and dancers, bravos fighting death duels for the honor of their candidates, elephants with the names of would-be triarchs painted on their sides. Those jugglers are performing for Methyso.”
“这让我想给别人投票。”提利昂舔着他手上的肥油。他们下面，围观人群向杂耍艺人扔着硬币。“所有的这些准元老们都提供伶人秀么？”
“Remind me to vote for someone else.” Tyrion licked grease from his fingers. Below, the crowd was flinging coins at the jugglers. “Do all these would-be triarchs provide mummer shows?”
“他们做一切认为能赢得选举的事，”莫尔蒙说。“食物，饮料，公开展示……阿列斯派出了100个美丽的奴隶女孩上街和投票者睡觉。”
“They do whatever they think will win them votes,” said Mormont. “Food, drink, spectacle … Alios has sent a hundred pretty slave girls out into the streets to lie with voters.”
“我投他一票，”提利昂决定。“给我带来个奴隶女孩。”
“I’m for him,” Tyrion decided. “Bring me a slave girl.”