托蒙德明白了。“下流的鸟儿们，你们乌鸦。”他啐一口唾沫，“那么，再加两个男孩。一会儿给你。”
The wildling understood. “Nasty birds, you crows.” He spat. “Two more boys, then. You’ll have them.”
直到99个人质都已慢吞吞地通过他们走进长城下面的通道，这时‘巨人克星’托蒙德提供了最后一个人选，“我的儿子，戴温。你得时刻保证他受到好的照顾，乌鸦，否则我会把你的黑心肝炒了下酒。”
When nine-and-ninety hostages had shuffled by them to pass beneath the Wall, Tormund Giantsbane produced the last one. “My son Dryn. You’ll see he’s well taken care of, crow, or I’ll cook your black liver up and eat it.”
琼恩仔细观察这个男孩。布兰的年龄，或者说如果席恩没有杀死他，他此时的年龄。然而戴温没有一点儿布兰的可爱。他是个矮胖的男孩，短腿，粗胳膊，宽阔的红脸——他父亲的迷你版，长着深褐色的浓密头发。“他会担任我的侍从。”琼恩向托蒙德保证。
Jon gave the boy a close inspection. Bran’s age, or the age he would have been if Theon had not killed him. Dryn had none of Bran’s sweetness, though. He was a chunky boy, with short legs, thick arms, and a wide red face—a miniature version of his father, with a shock of dark brown hair. “He’ll serve as my own page,” Jon promised Tormund.
“听到了吗，戴温？切不可自以为是。”转向琼恩说道，“他还需要不时地好好敲打，不过，小心他的牙齿，他咬人。”他再次取下号角，凑到唇边，吹响了另一个音节。
“Hear that, Dryn? See that you don’t get above yourself.” To Jon he said, “He’ll need a good beating from time to time. Be careful o’ his teeth, though. He bites.” He reached down for his horn again, raised it, and blew another blast.
这次是战士们走上前来，而且不止100人。当他们从树下钻出来时，琼恩·雪诺判断，500人，或许有1000人之多。只有十分之一的人有坐骑，但所有人都穿着盔甲。他们背上背着圆形的柳编盾牌，盾牌外层附了兽皮和熟皮革，并描绘了各种图案：蛇、蜘蛛、割下的头颅、血淋淋的战锤、破碎的头骨、恶魔。少数人穿着窃取来的钢甲——从死去的游骑兵尸体上劫掠的遍布凹痕的零碎盔甲。其他人用骨头武装自己，就像‘叮当衫’。所有人都穿了毛皮和皮革。
This time it was warriors who came forward. And not just one hundred of them. Five hundred, Jon Snow judged, as they moved out from beneath the trees, perhaps as many as a thousand. One in every ten of them came mounted but all of them came armed. Across their backs they bore round wicker shields covered with hides and boiled leather, displaying painted images of snakes and spiders, severed heads, bloody hammers, broken skulls, and demons. A few were clad in stolen steel, dinted oddments of armor looted from the corpses of fallen rangers. Others had armored themselves in bones, like Rattleshirt. All wore fur and leather.
也有矛妇混杂其间，长长的头发流泻而下。看到她们，琼恩忍不住想起耶歌蕊特：像流火一样的头发，当她在洞穴里为他脱光衣服时的脸上表情，她的声音。“你什么也不懂，琼恩·雪诺。”她对他说了不下100次。
There were spearwives with them, long hair streaming. Jon could not look at them without remembering Ygritte: the gleam of fire in her hair, the look on her face when she’d disrobed for him in the grotto, the sound of her voice. “You know nothing, Jon Snow,” she’d told him a hundred times.
一切都恍如昨日。“你可以先放女人们过来，”他对托蒙德说，“母亲和少女。”
It is as true now as it was then. “You might have sent the women first,” he said to Tormund. “The mothers and the maids.”
托蒙德精明地看了他一眼，“恩，我可以。然后你们乌鸦就可以决定关闭城门。几个战士站在那边，好吧，那样就能让城门保持常开，是不是？”他咧嘴笑了笑，“我买了你血价的马，琼恩·雪诺，并不意味着我们不会数它的口齿。现在你不用想我和我的人不相信你。我们和你们一样相信对方，不多不少。”他哼了一声，“你想要战士，不是吗？好，他们在那。每个都抵得上你们六个黑乌鸦。”
The wildling gave him a shrewd look. “Aye, I might have. And you crows might decide to close that gate. A few fighters on t’other side, well, that way the gate stays open, don’t it?” He grinned. “I bought your bloody horse, Jon Snow. Don’t mean that we can’t count his teeth. Now don’t you go thinking me and mine don’t trust you. We trust you just as much as you trust us.” He snorted. “You wanted warriors, didn’t you? Well, there they are. Every one worth six o’ your black crows.”
琼恩只有苦笑，“只要他们把手中的武器对准我们共同的敌人，我就知足了。”
Jon had to smile. “So long as they save those weapons for our common foe, I am content.”
“想让我对此作出承诺，是吗？‘巨人克星’托蒙德说出的话，一言九鼎，给你。”他转身朝地上啐了一口。
“Gave you my word on it, didn’t I? The word of Tormund Giantsbane. Strong as iron, ’tis.” He turned and spat.
许多人质的父亲也行进在战士们中间。经过的时候，有的用冰冷呆板的目光瞪视琼恩，手指拨弄着剑带；其他人则朝他微笑像是久别重逢的亲人，然而有些微笑比任何瞪视都更让琼恩·雪诺感到难堪。没有人屈膝，但很多人向他起了誓。“托蒙德的誓言就是我的誓言，”‘黑发’布罗格声称，他是沉默寡言的人。‘破盾者’索伦稍微低下头咆哮着说，“索伦的斧子是你的了，琼恩·雪诺，如果你确实需要的话。”‘国王血脉’‘红胡子’格瑞克带着三个女儿。“她们将成为好妻子，给她们的丈夫生许多强壮的有高贵血统的儿子。”他吹嘘道，“就像她们的父亲，他们是‘境外之王’‘红胡子’雷曼的后代。”
Amongst the stream of warriors were the fathers of many of Jon’s hostages. Some stared with cold dead eyes as they went by, fingering their sword hilts. Others smiled at him like long-lost kin, though a few of those smiles discomfited Jon Snow more than any glare. None knelt, but many gave him their oaths. “What Tormund swore, I swear,” declared black-haired Brogg, a man of few words. Soren Shieldbreaker bowed his head an inch and growled, “Soren’s axe is yours, Jon Snow, if ever you have need of such.” Red-bearded Gerrick Kingsblood brought three daughters. “They will make fine wives, and give their husbands strong sons of royal blood,” he boasted. “Like their father, they are descended from Raymun Redbeard, who was King-Beyond-the-Wall.”
琼恩知道，对自由民来说血统没有什么意义。耶歌蕊特曾经告诉过他。格瑞克的女儿们有着和耶歌蕊特一样的火红头发，尽管她是乱成的一团卷发，而她们是又长又直的披肩发。火吻而生。“三位公主，一个比一个可爱，”他告诉她们的父亲，“我会让她们当上皇后。”他揣测：比起瓦迩，赛丽丝·拜拉席恩或许会更喜欢带着这三个女孩。他们更年轻，肯定也更温顺。看着她们就觉得很甜美，尽管她们的父亲像个傻子。
Blood meant little and less amongst the free folk, Jon knew. Ygritte had taught him that. Gerrick’s daughters shared her same flame-red hair, though hers had been a tangle of curls and theirs hung long and straight. Kissed by fire. “Three princesses, each lovelier than the last,” he told their father. “I will see that they are presented to the queen.” Selyse Baratheon would take to these three better than she had to Val, he suspected; they were younger and considerably more cowed. Sweet enough to look at them, though their father seems a fool.
‘流浪者’霍尔德以他的剑起誓，琼恩还从没见过那么多缺口和凹痕的剑。‘海豹剥皮人’德温送给琼恩一顶海豹皮帽，‘猎人’哈尔勒送给他一个熊爪项链。女巫战士莫娜摘下森林女巫的面具，长时间的吻他带手套的手，并发誓做他的男人或女人，随便他喜欢选哪个，等等等等。
Howd Wanderer swore his oath upon his sword, as nicked and pitted a piece of iron as Jon had ever seen. Devyn Sealskinner presented him with a sealskin hat, Harle the Huntsman with a bear-claw necklace. The warrior witch Morna removed her weirwood mask just long enough to kiss his gloved hand and swear to be his man or his woman, whichever he preferred. And on and on and on.
通过时，每个战士都拿出自己的宝物，扔到事务官们放置在城门前的某架手推车上。琥珀坠，金项圈，饰有宝石的匕首，镶宝石的银胸针，手镯，戒指，乌银杯，金酒杯，号角和角杯，1把绿色玉梳，1个淡水珍珠项链……所有都被迫交出来，并由波文·马尔锡记录在案。有个人上缴了一件银片衬衫，这肯定是为某位领主专门制作的；还有一个人交出一把断剑，剑柄上镶嵌着三块蓝宝石。
As they passed, each warrior stripped off his treasures and tossed them into one of the carts that the stewards had placed before the gate. Amber pendants, golden torques, jeweled daggers, silver brooches set with gemstones, bracelets, rings, niello cups and golden goblets, warhorns and drinking horns, a green jade comb, a necklace of freshwater pearls … all yielded up and noted down by Bowen Marsh. One man surrendered a shirt of silver scales that had surely been made for some great lord. Another produced a broken sword with three sapphires in the hilt.
另外，还有些更怪异的东西：1个用长毛象毛做的玩具长毛象，1个象牙做的阴茎，1个独角兽头骨做的舵柄——还保留着完整的独角。在自由贸易城邦，这些东西能换多少食物？琼恩·雪诺说不上来。
And there were queerer things: a toy mammoth made of actual mammoth hair, an ivory phallus, a helm made from a unicorn’s head, complete with horn. How much food such things would buy in the Free Cities, Jon Snow could not begin to say.
骑手们过去之后是来自冰封海岸的人们。琼恩看着十二辆巨大的骨头战车滚滚而过，伴随着哗啦啦地响声，就像叮当衫。六辆车轮完好，另外六辆的车轮换成了滑行装置。它们平稳地滑过雪堆，而轮子战车正陷在雪堆里。
After the riders came the men of the Frozen Shore. Jon watched a dozen of their big bone chariots roll past him one by one, clattering like Rattleshirt. Half still rolled as before; others had replaced their wheels with runners. They slid across the snowdrifts smoothly, where the wheeled chariots were foundering and sinking.
拉战车的狗都是令人生畏的怪兽，和冰原狼一样大。妇女们都穿着海豹皮，有些人怀抱着婴儿。大点儿的孩童们拖着脚步走在母亲身后，抬起双眼看着琼恩，那眼睛又黑又生硬就像握在他们手中的石头。有些男人帽子上插着鹿角，有些则插着海象牙。琼恩很快注意到，这两种人互相敌视对方。几只瘦驯鹿走在队伍后面，巨狗们则紧跟其后。
The dogs that drew the chariots were fearsome beasts, as big as direwolves. Their women were clad in sealskins, some with infants at their breasts. Older children shuffled along behind their mothers and looked up at Jon with eyes as dark and hard as the stones they clutched. Some of the men wore antlers on their hats, and some wore walrus tusks. The two sorts did not love each other, he soon gathered. A few thin reindeer brought up the rear, with the great dogs snapping at the heels of stragglers.
“小心那群人，琼恩·雪诺，”托蒙德警告他，“一个野蛮民族，男人们够差劲，女人们则更糟。”他从马鞍下面取下一皮袋酒递给琼恩，“给，这个或许会让他们看起来不那么可怕。夜晚还能帮你取暖。不，继续，送给你了。放开喝吧。”
“Be wary o’ that lot, Jon Snow,” Tormund warned him. “A savage folk. The men are bad, the women worse.” He took a skin off his saddle and offered it up to Jon. “Here. This will make them seem less fearsome, might be. And warm you for the night. No, go on, it’s yours to keep. Drink deep.”
里面加了蜂蜜，酒仍然够烈以至于琼恩呛得流出眼泪，肚子里好像有条火舌窜上胸膛。他又痛饮一口。“你是个好人，‘巨人克星’托蒙德。作为一个野人来说。”
Within was a mead so potent it made Jon’s eyes water and sent tendrils of fire snaking through his chest. He drank deep. “You’re a good man, Tormund Giantsbabe. For a wildling.”
“比大多数人更好，或许。有些人我自愧不如。”
“Better than most, might be. Not so good as some.”
野人们连绵不断地到来，直到太阳爬上蔚蓝晴空。正午时分，一辆牛车在通道里面的某个拐弯处卡住了，行进队伍不得不停滞下来。琼恩·雪诺亲自过去查看，车子现在已经嵌死了，后面的人们威胁说要把车子砸烂把挡道的牛宰了，而车夫和他的家人则发誓谁敢这么做就杀死谁。在托蒙德和他的儿子托雷格的协助下，琼恩总算是阻止了野人们的一次流血冲突，但等到道路再次畅通大半个小时的时间已经过去了。
On and on the wildlings came, as the sun crept across the bright blue sky. Just before midday, the movement stopped when an oxcart became jammed at a turn inside the tunnel. Jon Snow went to have a look for himself. The cart was now wedged solid. The men behind were threatening to hack it apart and butcher the ox where he stood, whilst the driver and his kin swore to kill them if they tried. With the help of Tormund and his son Toregg, Jon managed to keep the wildlings from coming to blood, but it took the best part of an hour before the way was opened again.
“你们需要个大点儿的门，”托蒙德向琼恩抱怨，一边愁眉苦脸地看向天空——风吹来几朵乌云。“这种走法太他妈慢了，像是一根芦苇管吸奶水，哈。要是我有‘乔曼的号角’，我一定好好吹上一吹，然后我们就可以从长城废墟上爬过去了。”
“You need a bigger gate,” Tormund complained to Jon with a sour look up at the sky, where a few clouds had blown in. “Too bloody slow this way. Like sucking the Milkwater through a reed. Har. Would that I had the Horn of Joramun. I’d give it a nice toot and we’d climb through the rubble.”
“‘乔曼的号角’已经被梅丽珊卓烧毁了。”
“Melisandre burned the Horn of Joramun.”
“是吗？”托蒙德用力拍着的大腿叫骂，“她烧毁了那么好的大号角，唉！我敢说，这是天杀的罪孽。有一千年的历史了，那个号角。我们在巨人之穴找到了它，从没有人见过这么大的号角。曼斯肯定是因为这个原因才告诉你那是‘乔曼的号角’：他想让你们乌鸦相信他用那个号角能吹倒你们那该死的长城。但是我们没有找到真正的号角，我们还没挖完。如果我们有真正的号角，你们七大王国的每个屈膝者将会在整个夏天都有镇酒的大冰块。”
“Did she?” Tormund slapped his thigh and hooted. “She burned that fine big horn, aye. A bloody sin, I call it. A thousand years old, that was. We found it in a giant’s grave, and no man o’ us had ever seen a horn so big. That must have been why Mance got the notion to tell you it were Joramun’s. He wanted you crows to think he had it in his power to blow your bloody Wall down about your knees. But we never found the true horn, not for all our digging. If we had, every kneeler in your Seven Kingdoms would have chunks o’ ice to cool his wine all summer.”
琼恩坐在马鞍上转过身，皱着眉头。乔曼吹响了冬之号角，唤醒了地下的巨人。那个巨大的号角，古金镶边，内里镌刻古老符文……是曼斯·雷德说谎，还是现在的托蒙德说谎？如果曼斯的号角只是个赝品，真正的号角又在哪里？
Jon turned in his saddle, frowning. And Joramun blew the Horn of Winter and woke giants from the earth. That huge horn with its bands of old gold, incised with ancient runes … had Mance Rayder lied to him, or was Tormund lying now? If Mance’s horn was just a feint, where is the true horn?
到下午太阳已经看不见，天气转阴还刮起了风。“要下雪了，”托蒙德严肃地宣布。
By afternoon the sun had gone, and the day turned grey and gusty. “A snow sky,” Tormund announced grimly.
别人也会从这大块的白云中看出同样的征兆。这似乎会激发他们的急躁情绪，火气开始上涨。一个男人试图悄悄溜过前面排了数个时辰的队列时被刺了一下。托雷格夺下了攻击者的刀，把两个人都拖出队列，送到野人帐篷再重走一遍。
Others had seen the same omen in those flat white clouds. It seemed to spur them on to haste. Tempers began to fray. One man was stabbed when he tried to slip in ahead of others who had been hours in the column. Toregg wrenched the knife away from his attacker, dragged both men from the press, and sent them back to the wildling camp to start again.
“托蒙德，”看到四个老妇人推着一车小孩通过大门时琼恩说道，“说说我们的敌人吧。我想知道你们所了解的一切有关异鬼的事情。”
“Tormund,” Jon said, as they watched four old women pull a cartful of children toward the gate, “tell me of our foe. I would know all there is to know of the Others.”
托蒙德抹抹嘴唇，“它们不在这儿，”他嘟囔着说，“不在长城这边。”老家伙不安地瞥向白雪覆盖的树木，“但它们从没走远，你知道。它们不会在白天出现，不会在太阳照射下出现，但不要认为它们已经走了。‘阴影’永远不会离开。或许你看不到它们，但它们总是跟在你的身后。”
The wildling rubbed his mouth. “Not here,” he mumbled, “not this side o’ your Wall.” The old man glanced uneasily toward the trees in their white mantles. “They’re never far, you know. They won’t come out by day, not when that old sun’s shining, but don’t think that means they went away. Shadows never go away. Might be you don’t see them, but they’re always clinging to your heels.”
“你们南下的时候遇到异鬼了吗？”
“Did they trouble you on your way south?”
“它们从不大规模地出现，如果那是你的意思的话，但它们依然就在我们身边，骚扰不断。我们损失了比我预想多得多的侦察兵，掉队或走散的人也都没有回来。每天夜幕降临，我们都围着火堆搭建帐篷。它们不喜欢火，这毫无疑问。然而，当大雪降下……雪、冰雹和冻雨，就很难找到干柴或引火物，而且寒冷会让……某些夜晚我们的火堆渐渐熄灭。那样的夜晚，你总会在第二条黎明发现一些死人。’Less 他们先找到你。那晚是托温德……我的儿子，他……”托蒙德转过脸去。
“They never came in force, if that’s your meaning, but they were with us all the same, nibbling at our edges. We lost more outriders than I care to think about, and it was worth your life to fall behind or wander off. Every nightfall we’d ring our camps with fire. They don’t like fire much, and no mistake. When the snows came, though … snow and sleet and freezing rain, it’s bloody hard to find dry wood or get your kindling lit, and the cold … some nights our fires just seemed to shrivel up and die. Nights like that, you always find some dead come the morning. ’Less they find you first. The night that Torwynd … my boy, he …” Tormund turned his face away.
“我知道，”琼恩·雪诺说道。
“I know,” said Jon Snow.
托蒙德转回身，“你什么都不知道。你杀死过一个死人，是，我听说了。曼斯杀死过一百个。一个人可以和死人战斗，但当它们的主人来临，当白色迷雾升起……你怎么和迷雾战斗？乌鸦？长着牙齿的‘阴影’……空气冷的无法呼吸，吸到肺里像刀子……你不知道，你不可能知道……你的剑能劈开寒冷？”
Tormund turned back. “You know nothing. You killed a dead man, aye, I heard. Mance killed a hundred. A man can fight the dead, but when their masters come, when the white mists rise up … how do you fight a mist, crow? Shadows with teeth … air so cold it hurts to breathe, like a knife inside your chest … you do not know, you cannot know … can your sword cut cold?”
走着瞧，琼恩想，他想起来山姆曾对他说过的话——山姆从老旧书里找到的东西。‘长爪’是在古瓦雷利亚的龙火里打造的，经过龙焰锻烧，还种下过符咒。龙晶，山姆这么称呼它，比任何普通钢都更强韧，更轻，更硬，更利……但书上的说辞未必可信，经不经得起考验战斗中才能知晓。
We will see, Jon thought, remembering the things that Sam had told him, the things he’d found in his old books. Longclaw had been forged in the fires of old Valyria, forged in dragonflame and set with spells. Dragonsteel, Sam called it. Stronger than any common steel, lighter, harder, sharper … But words in a book were one thing. The true test came in battle.
“你说的对，”琼恩说道，“我不知道。如果诸神慈悲，我将永远不会知道。”
“You are not wrong,” Jon said. “I do not know. And if the gods are good, I never will.”
“诸神很少慈悲，琼恩·雪诺。”托蒙德朝天空努了努头，“浓云滚滚而来，天气变得更黑更冷了。你的长城不再哭泣了。看。”他转身招呼儿子托雷格，“骑马去营地让他们都起身，所有伤员病号、懒虫懦夫们，让他们迈起他们该死的双脚，实在不行就放把火把他们的帐篷烧了。城门必须在天黑之前关闭。到那时任何没有通过长城的人最好祈祷在我见到他们之前已经被异鬼带走了。你听清楚了吗？”
“The gods are seldom good, Jon Snow.” Tormund nodded toward the sky. “The clouds roll in. Already it grows darker, colder. Your Wall no longer weeps. Look.” He turned and called out to his son Toregg. “Ride back to the camp and get them moving. The sick ones and the weak ones, the slugabeds and cravens, get them on their bloody feet. Set their bloody tents afire if you must. The gate must close at nightfall. Any man not through the Wall by then had best pray the Others get to him afore I do. You hear?”
“听清楚了。”托雷格双脚一踢马腹向队尾疾驰而去。
“I hear.” Toregg put his heels into his horse and galloped back down the column.
野人们连绵不断地到来。天变的更黑了，正如托蒙德所说。乌云覆盖了整个天空，从地平线一端到另一端，温暖遁去。随着野人、山羊、犍牛互相推挤着抢路，城门口更加拥挤。他们不只是着急，琼恩认识到，他们是在害怕。战士们、矛妇们、骑手们，他们都害怕那些树林，那些从树木间穿梭而过的‘阴影’。他们都想在夜晚到来之前通过长城。
On and on the wildlings came. The day grew darker, just as Tormund said. Clouds covered the sky from horizon to horizon, and warmth fled. There was more shoving at the gate, as men and goats and bullocks jostled each other out of the way. It is more than impatience, Jon realized. They are afraid. Warriors, spearwives, raiders, they are frightened of those woods, of shadows moving through the trees. They want to put the Wall between them before the night descends.
一片雪花在空中飞舞，然后是另一片。与我共舞，他想，你们很快也将与我共舞。
A snowflake danced upon the air. Then another. Dance with me, Jon Snow, he thought. You’ll dance with me anon.
野人们连绵不断地到来。此刻，一些人正以更快的速度地穿过沙场，其他人——老人、年轻人、弱者——几乎一点也没移动。今早地上还覆盖着厚厚的一层陈雪，白色雪面在阳光下闪烁。现在地面成了棕黑色的泥地。自由民的通行让地上满是烂泥和粪便：木制车轮和马蹄，骨头、兽角或铁制的雪橇，猪脚，重靴，奶牛和犍牛的蹄脚，巨足民光着的黑脚板，所有这些都留下各自的标记。湿滑的路面更加减缓了队列的行进速度。“你们需要个大点儿的门，”托蒙德再一次抱怨道。
On and on and on the wildlings came. Some were moving faster now, hastening across the battleground. Others—the old, the young, the feeble—could scarce move at all. This morning the field had been covered with a thick blanket of old snow, its white crust shining in the sun. Now the field was brown and black and slimy. The passage of the free folk had turned the ground to mud and muck: wooden wheels and horses’ hooves, runners of bone and horn and iron, pig trotters, heavy boots, the cloven feet of cows and bullocks, the bare black feet of the Hornfoot folk, all had left their marks. The soft footing slowed the column even more. “You need a bigger gate,” Tormund complained again.
傍晚时分雪一直下个不停，但野人长河渐渐变为小溪流。几缕青烟从树林中升起，那里是野人的帐篷所在。“是托雷格，”托蒙德解释道，“在烧掉死人。总是有些人睡着了就不再醒来。你会在他们的帐篷中发现他们——那些有帐篷的——已经蜷缩着冻僵了。托雷格知道怎么做。”
By late afternoon the snow was falling steadily, but the river of wildlings had dwindled to a stream. Columns of smoke rose from the trees where their camp had been. “Toregg,” Tormund explained. “Burning the dead. Always some who go to sleep and don’t wake up. You find them in their tents, them as have tents, curled up and froze. Toregg knows what to do.”
等到托雷格从树林中出来时，野人溪流只剩下涓涓细流。一起骑马过来的是十来个装备有长矛和刀剑的骑兵。“我的后卫部队，”托蒙德咧嘴大笑着说道，“你们乌鸦有游骑兵，我们也有。我把他们留在营地，以防我们全都离开之后会遭到袭击。”
The stream was no more than a trickle by the time Toregg emerged from the wood. With him rode a dozen mounted warriors armed with spears and swords. “My rear guard,” Tormund said, with a gap-toothed smile. “You crows have rangers. So do we. Them I left in camp in case we were attacked before we all got out.”
“你的最优秀的部下。”
“Your best men.”
“或许是最糟糕的，他们每个人都杀死过你们‘乌鸦’。”
“Or my worst. Every man o’ them has killed a crow.”
骑兵中间有一位徒步而来，身后跟着一头高大的野兽。一只野猪，琼恩看到，一只巨大的野猪。有白灵的两倍大，浑身都是粗糙的黑毛，獠牙有成人的手臂那么长。琼恩从来没见过这么巨大和丑陋的野猪，旁边的男人也很丑：粗陋，眉毛浓黑，鼻子扁平，重颚长满黑胡茬，又黑又小的眼睛挤在一起。
Amongst the riders came one man afoot, with some big beast trotting at his heels. A boar, Jon saw. A monstrous boar. Twice the size of Ghost, the creature was covered with coarse black hair, with tusks as long as a man’s arm. Jon had never seen a boar so huge or ugly. The man beside him was no beauty either; hulking, black-browed, he had a flat nose, heavy jowls dark with stubble, small black close-set eyes.
“布拉齐，”托蒙德转头啐了一口，
“Borroq.” Tormund turned his head and spat.
“一个易形者。” 不知怎的他知道，这不是问题所在。
“A skinchanger.” It was not a question. Somehow he knew.
白灵转过头来。飘落的雪花掩盖住了野猪的气味，但现在白狼已经闻到了。他从琼恩身边探出头来，呲着牙无声地咆哮。
Ghost turned his head. The falling snow had masked the boar’s scent, but now the white wolf had the smell. He padded out in front of Jon, his teeth bared in a silent snarl.
“野猪和冰原狼，”托蒙德说，“今晚你最好把你的野兽关起来。我会让布拉齐把他的野猪也关起来。”他抬头看一眼渐暗的天空，“他们是最后一批，很快就要没人了。今晚将会下整晚的雪，我能感觉到。我是时候去冰墙另一边看看了。”
“Boars and wolves,” said Tormund. “Best keep that beast o’ yours locked up tonight. I’ll see that Borroq does the same with his pig.” He glanced up at the darkening sky. “Them’s the last, and none too soon. It’s going to snow all night, I feel it. Time I had a look at what’s on t’other side of all that ice.”
“你先过去吧，”琼恩告诉他，“我想等到最后一人通过长城。我会与你共进晚餐。”
“You go ahead,” Jon told him. “I mean to be the last one through the ice. I will join you at the feast.”
“晚餐？哈！此刻这是我最想听到的一个词。”托蒙德让驮马转向长城，然后拍打马臀。托雷格和骑手们从后面跟上，门前下马以便让马匹通过。波文·马尔锡一直待到监督他的事务官们把最后一轮马车推进隧道。只有琼恩·雪诺和他的侍卫们留下来。
“Feast? Har! Now that’s a word I like to hear.” The wildling turned his garron toward the Wall and slapped her on the rump. Toregg and the riders followed, dismounting by the gate to lead their horses through. Bowen Marsh stayed long enough to supervise as his stewards pulled the last carts into the tunnel. Only Jon Snow and his guards were left.
异形者在十码之外停步。他的野猪前蹄刨地，喷着响鼻，弓起的黑背上积雪纷纷震落。它哼了一声然后低下头，一瞬间琼恩认为它是要向前冲。他的两边，侍卫们都握紧了长矛。
The skinchanger stopped ten yards away. His monster pawed at the mud, snuffling. A light powdering of snow covered the boar’s humped black back. He gave a snort and lowered his head, and for half a heartbeat Jon thought he was about to charge. To either side of him, his men lowered their spears.
“兄弟，”布拉齐说道。
“Brother,” Borroq said.
“你最好继续，我们马上要关闭城门了。”
“You’d best go on. We are about to close the gate.”
“关吧，”布拉齐说，“把城门关好关紧，他们就要来了，乌鸦。”他微笑着走向城门，琼恩从来没见过那么丑陋的笑容。野猪大步跟在他后面。飘落的雪花很快覆盖他们身后的足迹。
“You do that,” Borroq said. “You close it good and tight. They’re coming, crow.” He smiled as ugly a smile as Jon had ever seen and made his way to the gate. The boar stalked after him. The falling snow covered up their tracks behind them.
“那么，这就搞定了。”等他们都通过后洛里说道。
“That’s done, then,” Rory said when they were gone.
不，琼恩。雪诺想，这只是刚刚开始。
No, thought Jon Snow, it has only just begun.
波文·马尔锡正在长城南面等他，手里拿着一块写满数字的写字板。“今天共有3190个野人通过长城，”总务长大人告诉他，“你的60个人质将在进餐之后被送往东海望和影子塔。艾迪·托勒特带走了六马车的女人回长坟堡。余下的都留我们这里。”
Bowen Marsh was waiting for him south of the Wall, with a tablet full of numbers. “Three thousand one hundred and nineteen wildlings passed through the gate today,” the Lord Steward told him. “Sixty of your hostages were sent off to Eastwatch and the Shadow Tower after they’d been fed. Edd Tollett took six wagons of women back to Long Barrow. The rest remain with us.”
“不会很久，”琼恩向他保证，“托蒙德打算在一两天内带他自己的人去橡盾村。一旦我们安排好安置他们的地方，其他人也会离开。”
“Not for long,” Jon promised him. “Tormund means to lead his own folk to Oakenshield within a day or two. The rest will follow, as soon as we sort where to put them.”
“你说了算，雪诺大人。”用词生硬，那语气貌似波文·马尔锡已经知道他将会把野人们安置在何处。
“As you say, Lord Snow.” The words were stiff. The tone suggested that Bowen Marsh knew where he would put them.
回到黑城堡，琼恩发现这里已经和他早上离开时大不相同。长久以来，他所知道的黑城堡是一个安静的到处是阴影的所在，寥寥无几的守夜人在废弃的堡垒里像幽灵一样游荡，而历史上这些堡垒曾经驻过十倍于此的守夜人。所有这些都已改变。琼恩·雪诺从来没见到过灯光从如此多的窗户里照射出来。嘈杂的声音在庭院中回荡，自由民沿着数千年来只有守夜人的黑靴踏过的虫道来来去去。老菲林特·巴拉克斯（Flint Barracks）从外面走来，正遇上一堆人在玩打雪仗。玩雪，琼恩吃惊地想，成人们像孩童那样玩耍，布兰和艾莉亚也曾经那样扔过雪球，在他们之前是罗柏和我。
The castle Jon returned to was far different from the one he’d left that morning. For as long as he had known it, Castle Black had been a place of silence and shadows, where a meagre company of men in black moved like ghosts amongst the ruins of a fortress that had once housed ten times their numbers. All that had changed. Lights now shone through windows where Jon Snow had never seen lights shine before. Strange voices echoed down the yards, and free folk were coming and going along icy paths that had only known the black boots of crows for years. Outside the old Flint Barracks, he came across a dozen men pelting one another with snow. Playing, Jon thought in astonishment, grown men playing like children, throwing snowballs the way Bran and Arya once did, and Robb and me before them.
然而，老武器师傅唐纳·诺伊还是那么忧郁和安静，冰冷的锻炉后面琼恩的房间里还是一片黑暗。但他刚脱下外套，唐纳的脑袋就从门口探了进来宣布：克莱达斯带消息来了。
Donal Noye’s old armory was still dark and silent, however, and Jon’s rooms back of the cold forge were darker still. But he had no sooner taken off his cloak than Dannel poked his head through the door to announce that Clydas had brought a message.
“让他进来。”琼恩从火盆的余火中点燃一根灯芯，又用灯芯点亮三根蜡烛。
“Send him in.” Jon lit a taper from an ember in his brazier and three candles from the taper.
克莱达斯满脸通红地进来，柔软的手里握着一张羊皮纸。“请见谅，司令大人，我知道你已经很累了，但我想你一定希望马上看到这个。”
Clydas entered pink and blinking, the parchment clutched in one soft hand. “Beg pardon, Lord Commander. I know you must be weary, but I thought you would want to see this at once.”
“你做的很好。”琼恩读到：
“You did well.” Jon read:
已至艰难堡，还剩六艘船。海浪滔天，黑鸟号全军覆没，两艘里斯船在Skane搁浅，塔伦号正在进水。这里非常糟糕，野人们已经在吃死人的肉。森林里有尸鬼出没。布拉佛斯船长称他们的船只能装载女人和孩童。森林女巫宣称我们是奴隶贩子。他们试图攻击暴鸦号，六个船员死亡，还死了很多野人。只剩8只渡鸦。水里也有尸鬼。请求陆路支援，海路风暴肆虐。自塔伦号，哈慕恩学士执笔。
At Hardhome, with six ships. Wild seas. Blackbird lost with all hands, two Lyseni ships driven aground on Skane, Talon taking water. Very bad here. Wildlings eating their own dead. Dead things in the woods. Braavosi captains will only take women, children on their ships. Witch women call us slavers. Attempt to take Storm Crow defeated, six crew dead, many wildlings. Eight ravens left. Dead things in the water. Send help by land, seas wracked by storms. From Talon, by hand of Maester Harmune.
下面是卡特·派克愤怒的印记。
Cotter Pyke had made his angry mark below.
“是不幸的事吗，大人？”克拉达斯问道，
“Is it grievous, my lord?” asked Clydas.
“足够不幸。”森林里有尸鬼，水里有尸鬼，出航时11艘船，只剩下六艘。琼恩·雪诺卷起羊皮纸，紧皱眉头。夜晚来临，他想，此刻我的战争才要开始。
“Grievous enough.” Dead things in the wood. Dead things in the water. Six ships left, of the eleven that set sail. Jon Snow rolled up the parchment, frowning. Night falls, he thought, and now my war begins.