Ⅲ 冰雨的风暴 Chapter29 艾莉亚
ARYA
石堂镇是艾莉亚离开君临之后见过最大的市镇，哈尔温说，她父亲曾在此取得一场著名的胜利。
Stoney Sept was the biggest town Arya had seen since King’s Landing, and Harwin said her father had won a famous battle here.
“当年疯王的部队追赶劳勃，试图在他跟你父亲会合之前逮住他，”向城门骑去时，他告诉艾莉亚。“年轻的风息堡公爵受了伤，由当地一些朋友照料，而首相克林顿伯爵亲率大军攻取了这座市镇，开始挨家挨户搜查。在他们找到之前，艾德公爵和你外公及时赶到，攻破城防，与克林顿伯爵展开激烈巷战。双方在每条街道中战斗，甚至在房顶上战斗，所有圣堂都鸣响钟声，警告百姓们锁好门窗。当钟声响起时，劳勃从藏身之处冲出来参战，据说他那天杀了六个敌人，其中之一是著名的骑士米斯·慕顿，曾为雷加王子的侍从。他本想把首相也杀掉的，可惜混战当中两人没有交手的机会。然而克林顿重伤你徒利外公，杀死谷地的宠儿丹尼斯·艾林爵士，但当意识到战局终归无望，逃得跟自己纹章上的狮鹫一般快。后人称此战为‘鸣钟之役’。劳勃常说，这是你父亲的胜利，不是他的。”
“The Mad King’s men had been hunting Robert, trying to catch him before he could rejoin your father,” he told her as they rode toward the gate. “He was wounded, being tended by some friends, when Lord Connington the Hand took the town with a mighty force and started searching house by house. Before they could find him, though, Lord Eddard and your grandfather came down on the town and stormed the walls. Lord Connington fought back fierce. They battled in the streets and alleys, even on the rooftops, and all the septons rang their bells so the smallfolk would know to lock their doors. Robert came out of hiding to join the fight when the bells began to ring. He slew six men that day, they say. One was Myles Mooton, a famous knight who’d been Prince Rhaegar’s squire. He would have slain the Hand too, but the battle never brought them together. Connington wounded your grandfather Tully sore, though, and killed Ser Denys Arryn, the darling of the Vale. But when he saw the day was lost, he flew off as fast as the griffins on his shield. The Battle of the Bells, they called it after. Robert always said your father won it, not him.”
依所见的景象推断，艾莉亚认为此处最近也发生过战斗。城门由新原木制成，墙外一堆焦黑的木板诉说着老城门的命运。
More recent battles had been fought here as well, Arya thought from the look of the place. The town gates were made of raw new wood; outside the walls a pile of charred planks remained to tell what had happened to the old ones.
石堂镇守卫紧严，但当城门队长看清他们是谁，便打开突击口。“你们打哪儿弄吃的去？”进入时，汤姆好奇地问。
Stoney Sept was closed up tight, but when the captain of the gate saw who they were, he opened a sally port for them. “How you fixed for food?” Tom asked as they entered.
“我们这边情况还不算太糟。‘疯猎人’赶来一群羊，黑水河上有交易，而且万幸的是河南边的庄稼没被烧。妈的，许多不要脸的家伙来抢我们。狼仔来过，血戏班来过，要吃的、要财物、要小妞，还要找该死的弑君者。据说他从艾德慕公爵指缝间溜走了。”
“Not so bad as we were. The Huntsman brought in a flock o’ sheep, and there’s been some trading across the Blackwater. The harvest wasn’t burned south o’ the river. Course, there’s plenty want to take what we got. Wolves one day, Mummers the next. Them that’s not looking for food are looking for plunder, or women to rape, and them that’s not out for gold or wenches are looking for the bloody Kingslayer. Talk is, he slipped right through Lord Edmure’s fingers.”
“艾德慕公爵？”柠檬皱起眉头，“霍斯特公爵死了？”
“Lord Edmure?” Lem frowned. “Is Lord Hoster dead, then?”
“死了，快死了。你觉得兰尼斯特会不会朝黑水河跑？‘疯猎人’认定这是到君临最快的路。”队长没等他们答话。“他带狗到处去搜，如果詹姆爵士过来，一定会被找到。瞧，我亲眼见过这群狗撕碎熊的景象，不知它们喜不喜欢狮子的味道？”
“Dead or dying. Think Lannister might be making for the Blackwater? It’s the quickest way to King’s Landing, the Huntsman swears.” The captain did not wait for an answer. “He took his dogs out for a sniff round. If Ser Jaime’s hereabouts, they’ll find him. I’ve seen them dogs rip bears apart. Think they’ll like the taste of lion blood?”
“一具啃烂的尸体对谁都没用，”柠檬说，“‘疯猎人’这傻瓜应该很清楚才对。”
“A chewed-up corpse’s no good to no one,” said Lem. “The Huntsman bloody well knows that, too.”
“西方人打过来的时候，操了猎人的老婆和妹妹，烧他的庄稼，吃掉他一半的羊，又故意宰死另一半，还杀了六条狗，尸体丢进他家井里。我敢说，一具啃烂的尸体正合他意——也合我意。”
“When the westermen came through they raped the Huntsman’s wife and sister, put his crops to the torch, ate half his sheep, and killed the other half for spite. Killed six dogs too, and threw the carcasses down his well. A chewed-up corpse would be plenty good enough for him, I’d say. Me as well.”
“他是个蠢蛋，”柠檬道，“我只能这么说。你呢，你比他更蠢。”
“He’d best not,” said Lem. “That’s all I got to say. He’d best not, and you’re a bloody fool.”
土匪们沿着她父亲战斗过的街道前进，艾莉亚在哈尔温和安盖中间骑行。她看到山丘上的圣堂，下面连着一座矮小坚固的灰石庄园，相对市镇而言，显得有些小。其余房屋有三分之一成了焦黑空壳，半个人影都没有。“镇民死光了？”
Arya rode between Harwin and Anguy as the outlaws moved down the streets where her father once had fought. She could see the sept on its hill, and below it a stout strong holdfast of grey stone that looked much too small for such a big town. But every third house they passed was a blackened shell, and she saw no people. “Are all the townfolk dead?”
“哪儿啊，只是害羞而已。”安盖指指房顶上两名十字弓手和几个蜷缩在酒馆废墟中、满脸黑灰的男孩。前方有个面包师打开百叶窗，朝柠檬大声喊叫。话音让更多人从藏身处走出来，石堂镇慢慢恢复了生气。
“Only shy.” Anguy pointed out two bowmen on a roof, and some boys with sooty faces crouched in the rubble of an alehouse. Farther on, a baker threw open a shuttered window and shouted down to Lem. The sound of his voice brought more people out of hiding, and Stoney Sept slowly seemed to come to life around them.
市镇中央的集市广场里耸立着一座喷泉，呈跃出的鳟鱼状，水源源不断自它嘴里流入浅池。妇女们在那儿用提桶和水壶汲水。数尺之外，十来个铁笼子挂在吱嘎作响的木桩上。鸦笼，艾莉亚知道这种刑法——乌鸦在笼外，拍打着栏杆；人在里面，至死方休。柠檬皱眉勒住缰绳，“怎么回事？”
In the market square at the town’s heart stood a fountain in the shape of a leaping trout, spouting water into a shallow pool. Women were filling pails and flagons there. A few feet away, a dozen iron cages hung from creaking wooden posts. Crow cages, Arya knew. The crows were mostly outside the cages, splashing in the water or perched atop the bars; inside were men. Lem reined up scowling. “What’s this, now?”
“正义的制裁，”水池边的妇人回答。
“Justice,” answered a woman at the fountain.
“哦，你们的麻绳不够用了？”
“What, did you run short o’ hempen rope?”
“威尔伯特爵士下的令？”汤姆问。
“Was this done at Ser Wilbert’s decree?” asked Tom.
一个男人苦涩地笑道：“威尔伯特爵士一年前就给狮子宰啦。他儿子们追随少狼主，去西境养得肥肥的，怎会在乎我们这帮贱民？抓住狼仔的是‘疯猎人’。”
A man laughed bitterly. “The lions killed Ser Wilbert a year ago. His sons are all off with the Young Wolf, getting fat in the west. You think they give a damn for the likes of us? It was the Mad Huntsman caught these wolves.”
狼。艾莉亚一阵冰凉。是罗柏的人，我父亲的人。她不由自主地骑向这排笼子。栅栏里的空间如此狭小，被囚禁的人既不能坐下，也不能转身，只能光着身子站立，暴露于阳光和雨露之下。头三个笼子里的人已经死了，食腐乌鸦吃掉了他们的眼睛，空空的眼眶注视着她。第四个人在她经过时动了起来。他嘴边长满凌乱的胡须，其中都是血和苍蝇。当他开口说话，苍蝇便一下子飞散开来，围着他的脑袋嗡嗡作响。“水，”嘶哑的声音说，“求求你……水……”
Wolves. Arya went cold. Robb’s men, and my father’s. She felt drawn toward the cages. The bars allowed so little room that prisoners could neither sit nor turn; they stood naked, exposed to sun and wind and rain. The first three cages held dead men. Carrion crows had eaten out their eyes, yet the empty sockets seemed to follow her. The fourth man in the row stirred as she passed. Around his mouth his ragged beard was thick with blood and flies. They exploded when he spoke, buzzing around his head. “Water.” The word was a croak. “Please … water …”
隔壁笼子里的人听见声音，也睁开眼睛。“这儿，”他道，“这儿，我，给水。”他是个老人，灰色的胡须，秃顶上布满斑斑点点的棕色老人斑。
The man in the next cage opened his eyes at the sound. “Here,” he said. “Here, me.” An old man, he was; his beard was grey and his scalp was bald and mottled brown with age.
老人后面又有一个死者，红色的大胡子，一条褴褛的灰绷带缠在右耳和太阳穴上，最可怕的是两腿之间只剩一个结了棕色硬痂的洞，里面爬满蛆虫。再往后是个胖子，鸦笼如此之小，无法想象当初他们是如何将他弄进去的。栅栏痛苦地压进他的肚子，皮肉则从铁条间鼓出来，终日曝晒使他从头到脚都灼成了鲜艳的红。当他移动时，笼子一边摇晃，一边吱嘎作响。艾莉亚看到他皮肤上苍白的条纹，那是被铁条遮挡住阳光的地方。
There was another dead man beyond the old one, a big red-bearded man with a rotting grey bandage covering his left ear and part of his temple. But the worst thing was between his legs, where nothing remained but a crusted brown hole crawling with maggots. Farther down was a fat man. The crow cage was so cruelly narrow it was hard to see how they’d ever gotten him inside. The iron dug painfully into his belly, squeezing bulges out between the bars. Long days baking in the sun had burned him a painful red from head to heel. When he shifted his weight, his cage creaked and swayed, and Arya could see pale white stripes where the bars had shielded his flesh from the sun.
“你们是谁的手下？”她问他们。
“Whose men were you?” she asked them.
听见她问话，胖子睁开眼睛。眼睛周围的皮肤红得如此厉害，以至于艾莉亚联想到漂浮在一碟鲜血之上白煮蛋。“水……喝水……”
At the sound of her voice, the fat man opened his eyes. The skin around them was so red they looked like boiled eggs floating in a dish of blood. “Water … a drink …”
“谁的？”她又问。
“Whose?” she said again.
“别管他们，小子，”镇民告诉她，“不关你的事。你走你的路。”
“Pay them no mind, boy,” the townsman told her. “They’re none o’ your concern. Ride on by.”
“他们干了些什么？”她问他。
“What did they do?” she asked him.
“他们在翻斗瀑砍死八个人，”他解释，“说是要找弑君者，找不到，就开始强暴和谋杀。”他用大拇指比比那具本该是命根子的地方却爬满蛆虫的尸体。“那家伙肆意下流，罪有应得。好啦，快走吧。”
“They put eight people to the sword at Tumbler’s Falls,” he said. “They wanted the Kingslayer, but he wasn’t there so they did some rape and murder.” He jerked a thumb toward the corpse with maggots where his manhood ought to be. “That one there did the raping. Now move along.”
“一口，”胖子朝下面喊，“行行好，孩子，就一口。”老人抬起胳膊抓住栏杆，他的笼子剧烈摇晃起来。“水，”胡子里满是苍蝇的人喘着气说。
“A swallow,” the fat one called down. “Ha’ mercy, boy, a swallow.” The old one slid an arm up to grasp the bars. The motion made his cage swing violently. “Water,” gasped the one with the flies in his beard.
她看着他们肮脏的头发、凌乱的胡须和通红的眼睛，看着他们因干渴而开裂出血的嘴唇。他们是狼，她心想，和我一样。这就是她的族群吗？他们怎可能是罗柏的手下？她想揍他们，狠狠地揍他们；她也想哭喊。所有的北方人——不论死活——似乎都期盼地瞧着她。老人从铁栅杆间挤出三根指头，“水，”他说，“水。”
She looked at their filthy hair and scraggly beards and reddened eyes, at their dry, cracked, bleeding lips. Wolves, she thought again. Like me. Was this her pack? How could they be Robb’s men? She wanted to hit them. She wanted to hurt them. She wanted to cry. They all seemed to be looking at her, the living and the dead alike. The old man had squeezed three fingers out between the bars. “Water,” he said, “water.”
艾莉亚从马上一跃而下。他们伤害不了我，他们都快死了。她取出铺盖卷里的杯子，向喷泉走去。“想干吗，小子？”镇民叫道，“不关你的事。”她浑不理会，将杯子举到鱼嘴边。水溅到手指和衣袖上，但艾莉亚没有动，直到杯子灌满。当她返身走向笼子时，镇民过来阻止，“离他们远点，小子——”
Arya swung down from her horse. They can’t hurt me, they’re dying. She took her cup from her bedroll and went to the fountain. “What do you think you’re doing, boy?” the townsman snapped. “They’re no concern o’ yours.” She raised the cup to the fish’s mouth. The water splashed across her fingers and down her sleeve, but Arya did not move until the cup was brimming over. When she turned back toward the cages, the townsman moved to stop her. “You get away from them, boy—”
“她是个女孩，”哈尔温说，“别碰她。”
“She’s a girl,” said Harwin. “Leave her be.”
“没错，”柠檬说，“贝里伯爵不会赞成把人关在笼子里，活活渴死。你们干嘛不学正派人的样，送他们上吊呢？”
“Aye,” said Lem. “Lord Beric don’t hold with caging men to die of thirst. Why don’t you hang them decent?”
“他们在翻斗瀑做的，可不是什么正派人的事！”镇民冲他吼。
“There was nothing decent ’bout them things they did at Tumbler’s Falls,” the townsman growled right back at him.
栅栏之间的空隙太窄，无法把杯子递进去，好在哈尔温和詹德利过来帮忙。她踩在哈尔温并拢的双手上，跃至詹德利肩头，然后抓住笼顶栅栏。胖子仰脸贴紧铁条，艾莉亚把水浇下去。他急切地吮吸，清水顺着脑袋、面庞和双手流下，他又去舔潮湿的栅栏。若不是艾莉亚赶忙抽手，他还要舔她的手指。接着她用同样的方式给另外两人喂水，一大群人聚过来看。“这事‘疯猎人’会知道的！”一个男人威胁，“他不会喜欢。是的，他不会喜欢！”
The bars were too narrow to pass a cup through, but Harwin and Gendry offered her a leg up. She planted a foot in Harwin’s cupped hands, vaulted onto Gendry’s shoulders, and grabbed the bars on top of the cage. The fat man turned his face up and pressed his cheek to the iron, and Arya poured the water over him. He sucked at it eagerly and let it run down over his head and cheeks and hands, and then he licked the dampness off the bars. He would have licked Arya’s fingers if she hadn’t snatched them back. By the time she served the other two the same, a crowd had gathered to watch her. “The Mad Huntsman will hear of this,” a man threatened. “He won’t like it. No, he won’t.”
“那他更不喜欢这个。”安盖给长弓上弦，并从箭袋里抽出一支箭，引弓而射。羽箭自下而上，正穿胖子下颚，他抖动一下，便死了，但笼子使他无法倒下。射手又放两箭，了结另两个北方人。一时间，集市广场里只剩水花溅落声和苍蝇的嗡嗡响。
“He’ll like this even less, then.” Anguy strung his longbow, slid an arrow from his quiver, nocked, drew, loosed. The fat man shuddered as the shaft drove up between his chins, but the cage would not let him fall. Two more arrows ended the other two northmen. The only sound in the market square was the splash of falling water and the buzzing of flies.
valarmorghulis。艾莉亚默念。
Valar morghulis, Arya thought.
集市广场东面矗立着一座朴素的客栈，石灰粉刷的墙，碎裂的窗户，半边屋顶被烧，但洞给补上了。门上悬有一块木招牌，画一只咬了一大口的蜜桃。他们在客栈角落的马厩边下马，绿胡子大声呼喊马夫。
On the east side of the market square stood a modest inn with whitewashed walls and broken windows. Half its roof had burnt off recently, but the hole had been patched over. Above the door hung a wooden shingle painted as a peach, with a big bite taken out of it. They dismounted at the stables sitting catty-corner, and Greenbeard bellowed for grooms.
丰满的红发店家一看到他们便愉快地大声吆喝，开起嘲弄的玩笑。“哈哈，你是绿胡子？灰胡子？圣母慈悲，你啥时候变得这般老了？柠檬，是你吗？还穿着这件破斗篷，对吧？我知道你从来不洗，我知道，你怕上面的尿被清掉之后，我们发现你原来是个逃跑的御林铁卫！七弦汤姆，好色的老山羊！来看儿子啦？来晚了来晚了，他骑马跟那该死的猎人走了。喏，别说他不是你儿子！”
The buxom red-haired innkeep howled with pleasure at the sight of them, then promptly set to tweaking them. “Greenbeard, is it? Or Greybeard? Mother take mercy, when did you get so old? Lem, is that you? Still wearing the same ratty cloak, are you? I know why you never wash it, I do. You’re afraid all the piss will wash out and we’ll see you’re really a knight o’ the Kingsguard! And Tom o’ Sevens, you randy old goat! You come to see that son o’ yours? Well, you’re too late, he’s off riding with that bloody Huntsman. And don’t tell me he’s not yours!”
“他没有我的嗓子，”汤姆虚弱地抗议。
“He hasn’t got my voice,” Tom protested weakly.
“但他有你的鼻子。没错，听姑娘们说，其余部分也和你差不多。”此时她发现了詹德利，便在他脸上捏了一把。“瞧瞧，多棒的小公牛。这胳膊，等着艾丽斯来瞧吧。哎哟，他还像女孩子一样脸红。好咧，艾丽斯会帮你改改的，小子，她不会才怪。”
“He’s got your nose, though. Aye, and t’other parts as well, to hear the girls talk.” She spied Gendry then, and pinched him on the cheek. “Look at this fine young ox. Wait till Alyce sees those arms. Oh, and he blushes like a maid, too. Well, Alyce will fix that for you, boy, see if she don’t.”
艾莉亚从没见过詹德利脸红。“艾菊，别碰大牛，他是个好孩子，”七弦汤姆道，“我们只需要床，舒服地睡一晚。”
Arya had never seen Gendry turn so red. “Tansy, you leave the Bull alone, he’s a good lad,” said Tom Sevenstrings. “All we need from you is safe beds for a night.”
“这话只能代表你自己的意见，我的好歌手。”安盖伸手搂住一位健壮的年轻女仆，她脸上的雀斑跟他一样多。
“Speak for yourself, singer.” Anguy slid his arm around a strapping young serving girl as freckly as he was.
“床当然有，”红发的艾菊说，“蜜桃客栈从不缺床。但你们得先进澡盆，上次来老娘屋檐下过夜，把跳蚤全留下了。”她戳戳绿胡子的胸膛。“你身上的还是绿色！要不要吃东西？”
“Beds we got,” said red-haired Tansy. “There’s never been no lack o’ beds at the Peach. But you’ll all climb in a tub first. Last time you lot stayed under my roof you left your fleas behind.” She poked Greenbeard in the chest. “And yours was green, too. You want food?”
“你有的话，当然却之不恭，”汤姆确认。
“If you can spare it, we won’t say no,” Tom conceded.
“你啥时候说过不要呢，汤姆？”女人呵斥。“喏，我会给你的朋友们烤头羊，给你一只干瘪瘪的老耗子。呸，连这你都不配，除非给老娘哼三两支曲儿，或许我就心软了。唉，没办法，谁叫我喜欢同情人呢。好啦，来吧，来吧。卡丝，拉娜，烧几壶水。吉欣，帮我脱他们的衣服，它们也得煮一煮。”
“Now when did you ever say no to anything, Tom?” the woman hooted. “I’ll roast some mutton for your friends, and an old dry rat for you. It’s more than you deserve, but if you gargle me a song or three, might be I’ll weaken. I always pity the afflicted. Come on, come on. Cass, Lanna, put some kettles on. Jyzene, help me get the clothes off them, we’ll need to boil those too.”
她的威胁一一兑现。艾莉亚拼命分辨：不到两周前才在橡果厅洗了两次，但红发女人毫不理会。两个女仆一边将她硬生生架上楼梯，一边争论她到底是男是女。叫海丽的女仆赢了，因此另一个不得不提来热水，用刚毛刷替她使劲搓背，几乎搓掉一层皮。她们拿走斯莫伍德夫人给她的衣服，替她换上带花边的亚麻布衣，把她打扮得像珊莎的玩具娃娃。好在她饿了，无暇顾及这么多，等她们弄完后连忙下楼吃东西。
She made good on all her threats. Arya tried to tell them that she’d been bathed twice at Acorn Hall, not a fortnight past, but the red-haired woman was having none of it. Two serving wenches carried her up the stairs bodily, arguing about whether she was a girl or a boy. The one called Helly won, so the other had to fetch the hot water and scrub Arya’s back with a stiff bristly brush that almost took her skin off. Then they stole all the clothes that Lady Smallwood had given her and dressed her up like one of Sansa’s dolls in linen and lace. But at least when they were done she got to go down and eat.
艾莉亚穿着笨乎乎的女孩衣服坐到大厅时，记起西利欧·佛瑞尔的教诲，要她“洞察真相”。她发现这里的女侍比任何一家客栈都多，而且大多年轻标致。从黄昏时分起，蜜桃客栈就有许多男人进进出出，但他们都不在厅内逗留，甚至当汤姆拿出木竖琴，唱起“六女同池”，也没有吸引什么关注。木制楼梯老旧高耸，男人带女孩上楼，踩出剧烈的吱嘎声。“我打赌，这是一间妓院，”她低声对詹德利说。
As she sat in the common room in her stupid girl clothes, Arya remembered what Syrio Forel had told her, the trick of looking and seeing what was there. When she looked, she saw more serving wenches than any inn could want, and most of them young and comely. And come evenfall, lots of men started coming and going at the Peach. They did not linger long in the common room, not even when Tom took out his woodharp and began to sing “Six Maids in a Pool.” The wooden steps were old and steep, and creaked something fierce whenever one of the men took a girl upstairs. “I bet this is a brothel,” she whispered to Gendry.
“你根本不知道什么叫妓院。”
“You don’t even know what a brothel is.”
“我知道，”她坚持，“就是有许多女孩的客栈。”
“I do so,” she insisted. “It’s like an inn, with girls.”
他又涨红了脸。“那你在这儿干吗？”他问，“该死，贵族小姐不该来妓院，大家都知道。”
He was turning red again. “What are you doing here, then?” he demanded. “A brothel’s no fit place for no bloody highborn lady, everybody knows that.”
一个女孩坐到他对面的凳子上。“谁是贵族小姐？那个瘦瘦的？”她看看艾莉亚，咧嘴大笑。“我是国王的女儿呢。”
One of the girls sat down on the bench beside him. “Who’s a highborn lady? The little skinny one?” She looked at Arya and laughed. “I’m a king’s daughter myself.”
艾莉亚知道自己受了嘲弄。“你才不是。”
Arya knew she was being mocked. “You are not.”
“啊，那可说不定哦。”女孩耸耸肩，一侧外衣滑落下来。“他们说劳勃国王躲这儿的时候跟我妈上过床，然后才去打仗。虽然所有女人他都上过，但勒斯林说他最喜欢我妈。”
“Well, I might be.” When the girl shrugged, her gown slipped off one shoulder. “They say King Robert fucked my mother when he hid here, back before the battle. Not that he didn’t have all the other girls too, but Leslyn says he liked my ma the best.”
这女孩确实有国王的头发，艾莉亚心想，浓厚稠密的炭黑头发。这不能说明任何问题。詹德利也有。许多人都有黑头发。
The girl did have hair like the old king’s, Arya thought; a great thick mop of it, as black as coal. That doesn’t mean anything, though. Gendry has the same kind of hair too. Lots of people have black hair.
“我妈为我取名钟儿，”女孩告诉詹德利，“以纪念那场战役。好啦，我打赌我可以敲响你的钟，你想不想要啊？”
“I’m named Bella,” the girl told Gendry. “For the battle. I bet I could ring your bell, too. You want to?”
“不想，”他生硬地说。
“No,” he said gruffly.
“才怪，我打赌你想。”她一只手顺着他的胳膊滑过。“索罗斯和闪电大王的朋友我不收费。”
“I bet you do.” She ran a hand along his arm. “I don’t cost nothing to friends of Thoros and the lightning lord.”
“不想，我说了不想。”詹德利猛然起身，离开桌子，走进外面的夜色之中。
“No, I said.” Gendry rose abruptly and stalked away from the table out into the night.
钟儿转向艾莉亚，“他不喜欢女孩子？”
Bella turned to Arya. “Don’t he like girls?”
艾莉亚耸耸肩。“他不过是笨啦，就喜欢打磨头盔，用锤子敲剑。”
Arya shrugged. “He’s just stupid. He likes to polish helmets and beat on swords with hammers.”
“哦，”钟儿将外衣拉回肩头，找幸运杰克说话去了。不一会儿，她就坐上他膝盖，一边咯咯笑，一边喝他杯里的酒。绿胡子要来两个女孩，两边膝盖各坐一个。安盖跟那雀斑脸的姑娘一起消失，柠檬也不见了。七弦汤姆坐在壁炉边唱“春天绽放的春花”。艾莉亚边听，边啜饮红发女人准她喝的掺水葡萄酒。广场上，死人在鸦笼里腐烂，但蜜桃客栈中的每个人都兴高采烈，只是有些人笑得太夸张，似乎想遮掩什么。
“Oh.” Bella tugged her gown back over her shoulder and went to talk with Jack-Be-Lucky. Before long she was sitting in his lap, giggling and drinking wine from his cup. Greenbeard had two girls, one on each knee. Anguy had vanished with his freckle-faced wench, and Lem was gone as well. Tom Sevenstrings sat by the fire, singing. “The Maids that Bloom in Spring.” Arya sipped at the cup of watered wine the red-haired woman had allowed her, listening. Across the square the dead men were rotting in their crow cages, but inside the Peach everyone was jolly. Except it seemed to her that some of them were laughing too hard, somehow.
现在正是溜出去偷马的好时机，但艾莉亚看不到这样做的好处。她顶多骑到城门口。那个队长绝不会放我过去，即使他让我过去，哈尔温也会追来，或者那个带狗的‘疯猎人’。她希望自己有张地图，知道石堂镇离奔流城究竟有多远就好了。
It would have been a good time to sneak away and steal a horse, but Arya couldn’t see how that would help her. She could only ride as far as the city gates. That captain would never let me pass, and if he did, Harwin would come after me, or that Huntsman with his dogs. She wished she had her map, so she could see how far Stoney Sept was from Riverrun.
不知不觉间，艾莉亚的杯子空了，她打起哈欠。詹德利还没回来。七弦汤姆唱起“两颗跳动如一的心”，唱一句吻一个姑娘。窗边角落里，柠檬和哈尔温在跟红发的艾菊低声交谈。“……在詹姆的牢房里待了一夜，”她听见女人说，“她和另一个女的，杀蓝礼的那个。他们三人待在一起，到第二天早上，凯特琳夫人便为爱情放了他。”她从喉咙深处发出一声冷笑。
By the time her cup was empty, Arya was yawning. Gendry hadn’t come back. Tom Sevenstrings was singing “Two Hearts that Beat as One,” and kissing a different girl at the end of every verse. In the corner by the window Lem and Harwin sat talking to red-haired Tansy in low voices. “… spent the night in Jaime’s cell,” she heard the woman say. “Her and this other wench, the one who slew Renly. All three o’ them together, and come the morn Lady Catelyn cut him loose for love.” She gave a throaty chuckle.
这不是真的，艾莉亚心想，母亲决不会。她突然觉得既悲伤、又愤怒、又孤独。
It’s not true, Arya thought. She never would. She felt sad and angry and lonely, all at once.
一个老头在她边上坐下。“哎哟，这不是个美丽的小桃子吗？”他的呼吸跟笼子里的死人一样臭，小小的猪眼睛上上下下打量她，“我可爱的蜜桃姑娘叫什么名儿啊？”
An old man sat down beside her. “Well, aren’t you a pretty little peach?” His breath smelled near as foul as the dead men in the cages, and his little pig eyes were crawling up and down her. “Does my sweet peach have a name?”
半晌间，她不知该怎么伪装。她不是什么蜜桃姑娘，但在这里，在这个臭烘烘的陌生醉汉面前，也不可以做艾莉亚·史塔克。“我是……”
For half a heartbeat she forgot who she was supposed to be. She wasn’t any peach, but she couldn’t be Arya Stark either, not here with some smelly drunk she did not know. “I’m …”
“她是我妹妹。”詹德利的手沉重地搭在老头肩上，使劲捏了一把。“别碰她。”
“She’s my sister.” Gendry put a heavy hand on the old man’s shoulder, and squeezed. “Leave her be.”
那人转过来，想要争执，看到詹德利的身材，又缩了回去。“她是你妹子，啊？那你算哪门子哥哥？我才不会把老妹带来蜜桃客栈咧，嘿，决不会。”他从凳子上起立，咕哝着走开，去找别的伴。
The man turned, spoiling for a quarrel, but when he saw Gendry’s size he thought better of it. “Your sister, is she? What kind of brother are you? I’d never bring no sister of mine to the Peach, that I wouldn’t.” He got up from the bench and moved off muttering, in search of a new friend.
“你干嘛这么说？”艾莉亚跳将起来，“你又不是我哥。”
“Why did you say that?” Arya hopped to her feet. “You’re not my brother.”
“没错，”他生气地道，“我出生低贱，做不了大小姐的亲戚。”
“That’s right,” he said angrily. “I’m too bloody lowborn to be kin to m’lady high.”
艾莉亚被他的怒气吓了一跳。“我不是那个意思。”
Arya was taken aback by the fury in his voice. “That’s not the way I meant it.”
“你就是那个意思。”他一屁股坐到凳子上，捧起一杯酒。“走开。我想安安静静地喝酒，然后也许去找那个黑发女孩，让她敲响我的钟。”
“Yes it is.” He sat down on the bench, cradling a cup of wine between his hands. “Go away. I want to drink this wine in peace. Then maybe I’ll go find that black-haired girl and ring her bell for her.”
“但是……”
“But …”
“我说了，走开。小姐。”
“I said, go away. M’lady.”
艾莉亚转身离开，将他抛下。顽固呆笨的杂种小子，就这副德行。他爱敲多少钟就敲多少，不关她事。
Arya whirled and left him there. A stupid bullheaded bastard boy, that’s all he is. He could ring all the bells he wanted, it was nothing to her.
他们的卧室被安排在楼梯顶端，位于屋檐之下。蜜桃客栈也许不缺床，但为这群土匪，就只提供了一张。然而那是一张大床，差不多填满整间屋子，而茅草褥子虽然发了霉，却足以应付所有人。此刻整张床由她一人独享。她的衣服挂在墙头钩子上，在詹德利和柠檬的东西中间。于是艾莉亚脱下花边布衣，将自己的短装从头上套进，爬上床，钻进毯子底下。“瑟曦太后，”她低声对枕头说，“乔佛里国王，伊林爵士，马林爵士。邓森，拉夫，波利佛。记事本，猎狗，魔山格雷果爵士。”她有时候喜欢打乱顺序，有助于记清名字和他们所做的事。他们中有的或许已经死了，她心想，或许被关在某处的铁笼子里，任乌鸦啄出眼珠。
Their sleeping room was at the top of the stairs, under the eaves. Maybe the Peach had no lack of beds, but there was only one to spare for the likes of them. It was a big bed, though. It filled the whole room, just about, and the musty straw-stuffed mattress looked large enough for all of them. Just now, though, she had it to herself. Her real clothes were hanging from a peg on the wall, between Gendry’s stuff and Lem’s. Arya took off the linen and lace, pulled her tunic over her head, climbed up into the bed, and burrowed under the blankets. “Queen Cersei,” she whispered into the pillow. “King Joffrey, Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn. Dunsen, Raff, and Polliver. The Tickler, the Hound, and Ser Gregor the Mountain.” She liked to mix up the order of the names sometimes. It helped her remember who they were and what they’d done. Maybe some of them are dead, she thought. Maybe they’re in iron cages someplace, and the crows are picking out their eyes.
她合上眼就睡着了。那晚，她梦到自己又成了一匹狼，在潮湿的树林里穿行，空气中满是雨水，腐肉和鲜血的味道。在梦中，这些都很美好，艾莉亚知道自己没什么好怕。她强壮、敏捷而凶猛，而她的族群、她的兄弟姐妹们，全都跟着她。他们合力捕到一匹受惊的马，撕裂它的喉咙，享用大餐。月亮冲破乌云，她仰天长啸。
Sleep came as quick as she closed her eyes. She dreamed of wolves that night, stalking through a wet wood with the smell of rain and rot and blood thick in the air. Only they were good smells in the dream, and Arya knew she had nothing to fear. She was strong and swift and fierce, and her pack was all around her, her brothers and her sisters. They ran down a frightened horse together, tore its throat out, and feasted. And when the moon broke through the clouds, she threw back her head and howled.
黎明来临的时候，她被一阵狗吠吵醒。
But when the day came, she woke to the barking of dogs.
艾莉亚呵欠着坐起来。詹德利在她左边挪了挪，柠檬斗篷则在右边大打呼噜，呼噜声几乎被外面的狗吠所淹没。一定有好几十条狗。她爬出毯子，跃过柠檬、汤姆和幸运杰克，来到窗边。掀开百叶窗，寒风与湿气一起涌进，天色灰暗阴沉。下面的广场里，狗们一边吠叫一边打转，不停呼嗥咆哮。这群狗中包括黑色巨獒犬、精瘦的狼犬、黑白相间的牧羊犬，还有艾莉亚不认识的品种——长着黄色长牙、毛发浓密杂乱的斑纹猛兽。旅馆和喷泉之间，十来个骑手跨在马上，监督镇民们打开胖子的铁笼，使劲拽他胳膊，将肿胀的尸体扯出来，扔到地上。狗们见状一拥而前，将块块血肉从骨头上撕下。
Arya sat up yawning. Gendry was stirring on her left and Lem Lemoncloak snoring loudly to her right, but the baying outside all but drowned him out. There must be half a hundred dogs out there. She crawled from under the blankets and hopped over Lem, Tom, and Jack-Be-Lucky to the window. When she opened the shutters wide, wind and wet and cold all came flooding in together. The day was grey and overcast. Down below, in the square, the dogs were barking, running in circles, growling and howling. There was a pack of them, great black mastiffs and lean wolfhounds and black-and-white sheepdogs and kinds Arya did not know, shaggy brindled beasts with long yellow teeth. Between the inn and the fountain, a dozen riders sat astride their horses, watching the townsmen open the fat man’s cage and tug his arm until his swollen corpse spilled out onto the ground. The dogs were at him at once, tearing chunks of flesh off his bones.
艾莉亚听见一个骑手的笑声。“这就是你的新城堡，该死的兰尼斯特混蛋，”他说，“对你来说有点小，但别担心，会想法子把你塞进去的。”他身边有个沉默的囚犯，圈圈麻绳捆住手腕，许多镇民拿屎泼他，但他躲也不躲。“你将在笼里腐烂，”俘虏他的人大声说，“乌鸦会啄出你的眼珠，而我们大把大把地花你的兰尼斯特臭钱！等乌鸦吃饱后，再把你剩下的部分送给你那该死的兄弟。不过我怀疑到时候他还认不认得你。”
Arya heard one of the riders laugh. “Here’s your new castle, you bloody Lannister bastard,” he said. “A little snug for the likes o’ you, but we’ll squeeze you in, never fret.” Beside him a prisoner sat sullen, with coils of hempen rope tight around his wrists. Some of the townsmen were throwing dung at him, but he never flinched. “You’ll rot in them cages,” his captor was shouting. “The crows will be picking out your eyes while we’re spending all that good Lannister gold o’ yours! And when them crows are done, we’ll send what’s left o’ you to your bloody brother. Though I doubt he’ll know you.”
吵闹声弄醒了蜜桃客栈里的许多客人。詹德利挤到艾莉亚边上，从窗户望出去，汤姆站在他们身后，像出生时一样一丝不挂。“妈的，喊什么喊？”柠檬在床上抱怨，“老子想好好睡一觉。”
The noise had woken half the Peach. Gendry squeezed into the window beside Arya, and Tom stepped up behind them naked as his name day. “What’s all that bloody shouting?” Lem complained from bed. “A man’s trying to get some bloody sleep.”
“绿胡子在哪儿？”汤姆问他。
“Where’s Greenbeard?” Tom asked him.
“在艾菊床上，”柠檬说，“怎么了？”
“Abed with Tansy,” Lem said. “Why?”
“把他和射手找到。‘疯猎人’回来了，要把人关进笼子。”
“Best find him. Archer too. The Mad Huntsman’s come back, with another man for the cages.”
“兰尼斯特，”艾莉亚说，“我听见他喊‘兰尼斯特’。”
“Lannister,” said Arya. “I heard him say Lannister.”
“抓住弑君者了？”詹德利想知道。
“Have they caught the Kingslayer?” Gendry wanted to know.
下面广场里，一块石头砸到俘虏脸颊上，打得他转过头来。不是弑君者，艾莉亚心想，但诸神毕竟听见了我的祈祷。
Down in the square, a thrown stone caught the captive on the cheek, turning his head. Not the Kingslayer, Arya thought, when she saw his face. The gods had heard her prayers after all.