“才怪！”葛兰浓密的棕胡子在嘴巴四周冻住了，让他看起来显得苍老，“你会冻僵的，要么被异鬼逮着。山姆，你给我起来！”
“You won’t.” Grenn’s thick brown beard was frozen all around his mouth. It made him look like some old man. “You’ll freeze, or the Others will get you. Sam, get up!”
记得离开长城的前夜，派普以一贯的方式嘲弄葛兰，他边微笑边说葛兰最适合参加巡逻，因为太笨，所以不会害怕。葛兰激烈地否认，直到意识到自己在说什么。哎，他健壮，结实，有力——艾里沙·索恩爵士管他叫“笨牛”，就像叫山姆“猪头爵士”和琼恩“雪诺大人”——但一直对山姆相当友好。那只是琼恩的缘故啦，如果没有琼恩，他们都不会喜欢我的。现下琼恩走了，跟断掌科林一起在风声峡失踪，多半已经死去。山姆想为他哭泣，可惜泪水也会结冰，而他的眼睛早已睁不大开了。
The night before they left the Wall, Pyp had teased Grenn the way he did, Sam remembered, smiling and saying how Grenn was a good choice for the ranging, since he was too stupid to be terrified. Grenn hotly denied it until he realized what he was saying. He was stocky and thick-necked and strong—Ser Alliser Thorne had called him “Aurochs,” the same way he called Sam “Ser Piggy” and Jon “Lord Snow”—but he had always treated Sam nice enough. That was only because of Jon, though. If it weren’t for Jon, none of them would have liked me. And now Jon was gone, lost in the Skirling Pass with Qhorin Halfhand, most likely dead. Sam would have cried for him, but those tears would only freeze as well, and he could scarcely keep his eyes open now.
一位拿火炬的高个子弟兄停在他们身边，在那奇妙的瞬间，山姆感到阵阵温暖。“随他去，”那人对葛兰说，“不能走的就算完了。替自己省点力气吧，葛兰。”
A tall brother with a torch stopped beside them, and for a wonderful moment Sam felt the warmth on his face. “Leave him,” the man said to Grenn. “If they can’t walk, they’re done. Save your strength for yourself, Grenn.”
“他会起来，”葛兰顽固地回答，“只需要别人帮一把。”
“He’ll get up,” Grenn replied. “He only needs a hand.”
那人继续前行，并将神佑的温暖一起带走。葛兰试图拉山姆起来。“好疼，”他抱怨，“停下，葛兰，你弄疼我胳膊了。停下。”
The man moved on, taking the blessed warmth with him. Grenn tried to pull Sam to his feet. “That hurts,” he complained. “Stop it. Grenn, you’re hurting my arm. Stop it.”
“你死沉死沉的。”葛兰将双手塞进山姆的腋窝下，闷哼一声，将他抱了起来。然而刚一放手，胖子又坐回雪地上。葛兰狠狠地给了他一脚，靴上的冰踢碎了，飞散开来。“起来！”他又踢他，“快起来继续走！你不能放弃！”
“You’re too bloody heavy.” Grenn jammed his hands into Sam’s armpits, gave a grunt, and hauled him upright. But the moment he let go, the fat boy sat back down in the snow. Grenn kicked him, a solid thump that cracked the crust of snow around his boot and sent it flying everywhere. “Get up!” He kicked him again. “Get up and walk. You have to walk.”
山姆侧身躺下，紧紧蜷缩成球，以保护自己不被踢伤。有层层羊毛、皮革和盔甲保护，他几乎感觉不到痛，即使如此，心里却很受伤。我以为葛兰是我朋友。朋友就不该踢我。他们为何不让我休息？我只想睡一会儿，仅此而已，休息休息，睡一睡，或许死一次。
Sam fell over sideways, curling up into a tight ball to protect himself from the kicks. He hardly felt them through all his wool and leather and mail, but even so, they hurt. I thought Grenn was my friend. You shouldn’t kick your friends. Why won’t they let me be? I just need to rest, that’s all, to rest and sleep some, and maybe die a little.
“你帮俺拿火炬，俺扛这胖小子。”
“If you take the torch, I can take the fat boy.”
他突然离开柔软而甜美的雪毯，被提到冰冷的空气当中，向前漂流。膝盖下有条胳膊，另一条胳膊在背脊下面。山姆抬起头，眨眨眼睛。面前有一张脸，一张宽阔粗犷的脸，扁扁的狮子鼻，黑色的小眼睛，蓬乱的棕色摞腮胡。他见过这张脸，但过了一会儿才记起来。是保罗。小保罗。火炬的热量融化冰水，流进他眼睛里。“你抬得了他吗？”他听见葛兰问。
Suddenly he was jerked up into the cold air, away from his sweet soft snow; he was floating. There was an arm under his knees, and another one under his back. Sam raised his head and blinked. A face loomed close, a broad brutal face with a flat nose and small dark eyes and a thicket of coarse brown beard. He had seen the face before, but it took him a moment to remember. Paul. Small Paul. Melting ice ran down into his eyes from the heat of the torch. “Can you carry him?” he heard Grenn ask.
“俺抬过一头比他还沉的小牛。俺把它抬回它妈妈身边，好让它有奶喝。”
“I carried a calf once was heavier than him. I carried him down to his mother so he could get a drink of milk.”
小保罗每跨一步，山姆的脑袋都随之上下晃动。“停下，”他咕咕哝哝地道，“把我放下，我不是婴儿。我是守夜人的汉子。”他抽噎着。“让我死吧。”
Sam’s head bobbed up and down with every step that Small Paul took. “Stop it,” he muttered, “put me down, I’m not a baby. I’m a man of the Night’s Watch.” He sobbed. “Just let me die.”
“安静，山姆，”葛兰说，“省点力气。想想你的兄弟姐妹，想想伊蒙学士，想想你最喜欢的食物。假如可以的话，唱支歌吧。”
“Be quiet, Sam,” said Grenn. “Save your strength. Think about your sisters and brother. Maester Aemon. Your favorite foods. Sing a song if you like.”
“大声地唱？”
“Aloud?”
“在脑子里唱。”
“In your head.”
山姆知道上百首歌，如今却一首也想不起，好象歌词全部从脑海里消失。他又开始抽噎，“我什么歌都不会，葛兰，本来是会一点的，现在却不记得了。”
Sam knew a hundred songs, but when he tried to think of one he couldn’t. The words had all gone from his head. He sobbed again and said, “I don’t know any songs, Grenn. I did know some, but now I don’t.”
“没关系，”葛兰道，“瞧，‘狗熊与美少女’怎么样？每个人都会唱呢！‘这只狗熊，狗熊，狗熊！全身黑棕，罩着毛绒！’”
“Yes you do,” said Grenn. “How about ‘The Bear and the Maiden Fair,’ everybody knows that one. A bear there was, a bear, a bear! All black and brown and covered with hair!”
“别，别唱这首，”山姆恳求。他记起先民拳峰上那头熊，腐烂的皮肉上没有一丝毛发。我不要想起任何关于熊的事。“别唱了，求求你，葛兰。”
“No, not that one,” Sam pleaded. The bear that had come up the Fist had no hair left on its rotted flesh. He didn’t want to think about bears. “No songs. Please, Grenn.”
“那就想想你的乌鸦。”
“Think about your ravens, then.”
“它们不是我的。”他们是总司令的乌鸦，守夜人军团的乌鸦。“它们属于黑城堡和影子塔。”
“They were never mine.” They were the Lord Commander’s ravens, the ravens of the Night’s Watch. “They belonged to Castle Black and the Shadow Tower.”
小保罗皱起眉头。“齐特说俺可以留着熊老的乌鸦，就那只会说话的鸟儿。俺还省下玉米给它咧。”他摇摇头。“哦，俺又忘了，把玉米留在了藏起来的地方。”他继续沉重地向前走着，每走一步嘴里都冒出苍白的吐息。良久，他突然道，“俺可以要你一只乌鸦吗？只要一只，俺保证，决不让拉克吃掉它。”
Small Paul frowned. “Chett said I could have the Old Bear’s raven, the one that talks. I saved food for it and everything.” He shook his head. “I forgot, though. I left the food where I hid it.” He plodded onward, pale white breath coming from his mouth with every step, then suddenly said, “Could I have one of your ravens? Just the one. I’d never let Lark eat it.”
“它们都飞走了，”山姆说，“对不起。”实在对不起大家。“它们大概都飞回长城去了。”当号角声再度响起，喝令弟兄们上马时，他便把鸟儿全放了。两短一长，紧急上马的指示。没理由上马，除非是为放弃先民拳峰，除非是战斗彻底失败。恐惧狠狠地咬啮着山姆，他唯一能做的就是打开笼子，直到目睹最后一只乌鸦拍翅飞入暴风雪中，方才意识到刚写的消息一条也没送走。
“They’re gone,” said Sam. “I’m sorry.” So sorry. “They’re flying back to the Wall now.” He had set the birds free when he’d heard the warhorns sound once more, calling the Watch to horse. Two short blasts and a long one, that was the call to mount up. But there was no reason to mount, unless to abandon the Fist, and that meant the battle was lost. The fear bit him so strong then that it was all Sam could do to open the cages. Only as he watched the last raven flap up into the snowstorm did he realize that he had forgotten to send any of the messages he’d written.
“不，”他尖叫，“噢，不，噢，不。”大雪飘飞，号声吹鸣，啊呜呜呜呜，啊呜呜呜呜，啊呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜，它呼喊着，上马啊，上马啊，上马啊！山姆看见两只乌鸦停在一块岩石上，连忙赶过去，但那两只鸟儿懒洋洋地拍拍翅膀，向着相反的方向，飞进漩涡的大雪中。他追向其中一只，呼吸如浓厚的白云般从鼻孔里喷出，接着一个踉跄，发现自己离环墙仅十尺之遥。
“No,” he’d squealed, “oh, no, oh, no.” The snow fell and the horns blew; ahooo ahooo ahooooooooooooooooooo, they cried, to horse, to horse, to horse. Sam saw two ravens perched on a rock and ran after them, but the birds flapped off lazily through the swirling snow, in opposite directions. He chased one, his breath puffing out his nose in thick white clouds, stumbled, and found himself ten feet from the ringwall.
之后……他记得脸庞和喉咙上都钉着箭的死人爬过岩石，有的浑身披挂锁甲，有的几乎全裸……其中多数是野人，也有一些穿褪色的黑衣。他记得看到一位影子塔的人将长矛刺进一个尸鬼苍白柔软的肚皮，直穿后背，可那东西跌跌撞撞地径直沿着枪杆走上前，伸出黑色的双手，扭转那弟兄的头颅，直到鲜血从他嘴里喷出。山姆差不多可以肯定，那是当天他第一次尿裤子。
After that … he remembered the dead coming over the stones with arrows in their faces and through their throats. Some were all in ringmail and some were almost naked … wildings, most of them, but a few wore faded blacks. He remembered one of the Shadow Tower men shoving his spear through a wight’s pale soft belly and out his back, and how the thing staggered right up the shaft and reached out his black hands and twisted the brother’s head around until blood came out his mouth. That was when his bladder let go the first time, he was almost sure.
他不记得自己逃跑，但一定是跑了，因为接下来已身在半个营地之外的篝火边，跟老奥廷·威勒斯爵士和弓箭手们在一起。奥廷爵士跪在雪地，惊恐地扫视着周围的混乱场面，直到一匹无人骑乘的马跑过，踢中了他的脸。弓箭手们对此毫不理会，自顾自地朝着黑暗中的影子施放火箭。山姆看到一个尸鬼中箭后被火焰所吞没，但还有十几个在后面，其中有一苍白的巨影，铁定是头熊，而弓箭手们很快就没弹药了。
He did not remember running, but he must have, because the next he knew he was near the fire half a camp away, with old Ser Ottyn Wythers and some archers. Ser Ottyn was on his knees in the snow, staring at the chaos around them, until a riderless horse came by and kicked him in the face. The archers paid him no mind. They were loosing fire arrows at shadows in the dark. Sam saw one wight hit, saw the flames engulf it, but there were a dozen more behind it, and a huge pale shape that must have been the bear, and soon enough the bowmen had no arrows.
接下来山姆已骑在马上。那不是他的马，他也不记得自己上马，或许这正是踢碎奥廷爵士脸庞那匹马。号角继续吹奏，他朝声音传来的方向奔去。
And then Sam found himself on a horse. It wasn’t his own horse, and he never recalled mounting up either. Maybe it was the horse that had smashed Ser Ottyn’s face in. The horns were still blowing, so he kicked the horse and turned him toward the sound.
一片屠杀、混乱和飞雪中，他看到忧郁的艾迪骑在矮马上，用长矛举着守夜人军团的朴素黑旗。“山姆，”艾迪看到他便说，“请你帮个忙，把我叫醒好吗？我在做可怕的恶梦。”
In the midst of carnage and chaos and blowing snow, he found Dolorous Edd sitting on his garron with a plain black banner on a spear. “Sam,” Edd said when he saw him, “would you wake me, please? I am having this terrible nightmare.”
每时每刻都有更多人骑上马，战号将大家召集起来。啊呜呜呜呜，啊呜呜呜呜，啊呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜呜。“它们越过了西墙，大人，”索伦·斯莫伍德一边对熊老嘶喊，一边奋力控制自己的坐骑，“我带预备队出击……”
More men were mounting up every moment. The warhorns called them back. Ahooo ahooo ahooooooooooooooooooo. “They’re over the west wall, m’lord,” Thoren Smallwood screamed at the Old Bear, as he fought to control his horse. “I’ll send reserves …”
“不！”莫尔蒙竭力吼叫，才让声音压过号角，“把他们叫回来，我们突围！”他站在马蹬上，黑斗蓬在风中剌剌作响，铠甲映射着火光。“全体整队！”他高喊，“楔形队形，我们骑马冲出去！先朝南，再往东！”
“NO!” Mormont had to bellow at the top of his lungs to be heard over the horns. “Call them back, we have to cut our way out.” He stood in his stirrups, his black cloak snapping in the wind, the fire shining off his armor. “Spearhead!” he roared. “Form wedge, we ride. Down the south face, then east!”
“大人，南面山坡上爬满了那些东西！”
“My lord, the south slope’s crawling with them!”
“其他地方太陡！”莫尔蒙说，“我们得——”
“The others are too steep,” Mormont said. “We have—”
那头熊蹒跚着从大雪中走出，山姆的马嘶叫人立，差点将他甩下。他又尿了裤子。还以为都尿光了呢。这是头死熊，颜色苍白，皮肉腐烂，毛皮脱落，右前肢的上半部分烧得只剩骨头，但它仍在前进。那双眼睛是活的。明亮的蓝色，正如琼恩所说，象冰冻的星星一样闪烁。索伦·斯莫伍德冲上去，长剑在火光下闪着橙红的光。他的挥劈差点将熊的头砍掉，而熊拍掉了他的头。
His garron screamed and reared and almost threw him as the bear came staggering through the snow. Sam pissed himself all over again. I didn’t think I had any more left inside me. The bear was dead, pale and rotting, its fur and skin all sloughed off and half its right arm burned to bone, yet still it came on. Only its eyes lived. Bright blue, just as Jon said. They shone like frozen stars. Thoren Smallwood charged, his longsword shining all orange and red from the light of the fire. His swing near took the bear’s head off. And then the bear took his.
“快跑！”总司令大喊一声，掉转马头。
“RIDE!” the Lord Commander shouted, wheeling.
到达环墙时，人马已进入疾驰状态。山姆以前总是害怕，不敢让马跃起，但当低矮的石墙出现在面前时，他知道这次别无选择。于是他边踢马，边闭上眼睛，发出一声呜咽。马载他跳了过去，不知怎的，不知怎的，马载他跳了过去！他右边的骑手撞到墙上，钢铁、皮革和嘶叫的马搅作一团，然后尸鬼们一拥而上……楔形队形飞奔下山，从抓来的黑手间穿过，从明亮的蓝眼睛间穿过，从凛冽的风雪间穿过。时而有马跌倒翻滚，时而有人坠落在地，时而火炬在空中打转，时而斧剑砍向已死的血肉。山姆威尔·塔利抽噎着，自己也不知打哪儿来那么大力气，只管把马死死抓紧。
They were at the gallop by the time they reached the ring. Sam had always been too frightened to jump a horse before, but when the low stone wall loomed up before him he knew he had no choice. He kicked and closed his eyes and whimpered, and the garron took him over, somehow, somehow, the garron took him over. The rider to his right came crashing down in a tangle of steel and leather and screaming horseflesh, and then the wights were swarming over him and the wedge was closing up. They plunged down the hillside at a run, through clutching black hands and burning blue eyes and blowing snow. Horses stumbled and rolled, men were swept from their saddles, torches spun through the air, axes and swords hacked at dead flesh, and Samwell Tarly sobbed, clutching desperately to his horse with a strength he never knew he had.
他位于飞驰的前锋中，前后左右都有弟兄。有条猎狗跟他们跑了一段，顺着积雪的山坡在马匹中间来回穿梭，最后却越奔越慢。守在原地的尸鬼们被马撞翻，被马蹄踩踏，然而即使倒下，它们仍然抓向长剑、马蹬和马腿。山姆看到一个尸鬼用左手拉住一匹马的鞍子，右手则撕裂马腹。
He was in the middle of the flying spearhead with brothers on either side, and before and behind him as well. A dog ran with them for a ways, bounding down the snowy slope and in and out among the horses, but it could not keep up. The wights stood their ground and were ridden down and trampled underhoof. Even as they fell they clutched at swords and stirrups and the legs of passing horses. Sam saw one claw open a garron’s belly with its right hand while it clung to the saddle with its left.
树木突然出现在周围，山姆淌过一条冰冻的溪流，溅起水花。厮杀声在身后渐渐变小。他松了口气，回头吁吁直喘……不料一个黑衣人猛地从灌木丛中跳将出来，把他扯下鞍。山姆根本没看清，来人便一跃上马，飞驰而去。他想追，跑不两步绊到树根，脸朝下重重摔倒，像婴儿一样抽噎，直至忧郁的艾迪循声找来。
Suddenly the trees were all about them, and Sam was splashing through a frozen stream with the sounds of slaughter dwindling behind. He turned, breathless with relief … until a man in black leapt from the brush and yanked him out of the saddle. Who he was, Sam never saw; he was up in an instant, and galloping away the next. When he tried to run after the horse, his feet tangled in a root and he fell hard on his face and lay weeping like a baby until Dolorous Edd found him there.
那是他关于先民拳峰最后一点连贯记忆。之后，若干小时之后，他颤抖着站立在幸存者中间，他们一半骑马，一半步行。那儿离先民拳峰已有好几里，但山姆不记得怎么过来的。逃命的时候，戴文带着五匹驮马，满载食物、油和火炬，其中三匹得以脱身。于是熊老重新分配货物，这样即便失去任何一匹驮马，也不会造成灾难性的损失；他还让健康的人交出马匹，给伤员骑；他组织好步行的人，在前后左右安排火炬圈，以为防卫。我只需一直走，山姆告诉自己，就可以回家了。但走不到一个小时，他便开始踉跄，开始落后……
That was his last coherent memory of the Fist of the First Men. Later, hours later, he stood shivering among the other survivors, half mounted and half afoot. They were miles from the Fist by then, though Sam did not remember how. Dywen had led down five packhorses, heavy laden with food and oil and torches, and three had made it this far. The Old Bear made them redistribute the loads, so the loss of any one horse and its provisions would not be such a catastrophe. He took garrons from the healthy men and gave them to the wounded, organized the walkers, and set torches to guard their flanks and rear. All I need do is walk, Sam told himself, as he took that first step toward home. But before an hour was gone he had begun to struggle, and to lag …
而他们三人现在越落越后，他知道。记得派普曾说，小保罗是守夜人军团中最壮的人。一定是的，所以才能抱着我走。即便如此，前方的积雪却越来越深，地面越来越险，保罗的步伐越来越小。更多骑马的人超过去，伤员们用呆滞冷漠的眼神看看山姆。一些火炬手也超过去。“你们要掉队了，”其中一个说。另一个赞同，“没人会等你，保罗，把这头猪留给那些死人吧。”
They were lagging now as well, he saw. He remembered Pyp saying once how Small Paul was the strongest man in the Watch. He must be, to carry me. Yet even so, the snow was growing deeper, the ground more treacherous, and Paul’s strides had begun to shorten. More horsemen passed, wounded men who looked at Sam with dull incurious eyes. Some torch bearers went by as well. “You’re falling behind,” one told them. The next agreed. “No one’s like to wait for you, Paul. Leave the pig for the dead men.”
“他答应送俺一只鸟，”小保罗说，虽然山姆并没有答应，没有真正答应。它们不是我的，不能送人。“俺想搞一只会说话、能从俺手上吃玉米的鸟。”
“He promised I could have a bird,” Small Paul said, even though Sam hadn’t, not truly. They aren’t mine to give. “I want me a bird that talks, and eats corn from my hand.”
“真是个大呆瓜，”火炬手道，然后走了。
“Bloody fool,” the torch man said. Then he was gone.
过了一会儿，葛兰突然停下。“我们掉队了，”他嘶声道，“看不到其他火炬。殿后的人在哪儿？”
It was a while after when Grenn stopped suddenly. “We’re alone,” he said in a hoarse voice. “I can’t see the other torches. Was that the rear guard?”
小保罗无言以对。大个子咕哝一声，跪了下去，当他轻轻地将山姆放到雪地上时，手臂都在打颤。“俺抱不动你了。俺是想抱，但抱不动了，”他浑身剧烈颤抖。
Small Paul had no answer for him. The big man gave a grunt and sank to his knees. His arms trembled as he lay Sam gently in the snow. “I can’t carry you no more. I would, but I can’t.” He shivered violently.
寒风在树木间叹息，将细小的雪粒吹到他们脸上。冷，不堪忍受的冷，山姆感觉自己什么也没穿。他搜寻着火炬，但它们业已消失，个个不见踪影——除了葛兰手里那支，火焰如淡橙色丝绸，向上升起。透过它，他可以看到远处的黑暗。它很快就会燃尽，他想，只剩下我们三人，没有食物，没有朋友，没有火。
The wind sighed through the trees, driving a fine spray of snow into their faces. The cold was so bitter that Sam felt naked. He looked for the other torches, but they were gone, every one of them. There was only the one Grenn carried, the flames rising from it like pale orange silks. He could see through them, to the black beyond. That torch will burn out soon, he thought, and we are all alone, without food or friends or fire.
并非如此。他错了。
But that was wrong. They weren’t alone at all.
巨大的绿色哨兵树低处的枝杈动了一动，振落上面沉沉的积雪，发出含混的“噗哧”响。葛兰转身，伸出火炬，“谁在那儿！？”一个马头从黑暗中出现。山姆感到片刻的欣慰，直至看见整匹马。它全身包裹一层白霜，活像结冻的汗水，黑色僵死的肠子从裂开的腹部拖坠而下，在它背部，坐了一位玄冰般苍白的骑手。山姆喉咙深处发出一声呜咽，他吓坏了，只想尿裤子，可体内有股寒意，剧烈的寒意，把膀胱冻得严严实实。异鬼优雅地下马，挺立在雪地里。它像长剑一般纤细，如牛奶一样白皙，它的盔甲随着移动而改变颜色，而它的脚丝毫没有踩碎新雪的结冰。
The lower branches of the great green sentinel shed their burden of snow with a soft wet plop. Grenn spun, thrusting out his torch. “Who goes there?” A horse’s head emerged from the darkness. Sam felt a moment’s relief, until he saw the horse. Hoarfrost covered it like a sheen of frozen sweat, and a nest of stiff black entrails dragged from its open belly. On its back was a rider pale as ice. Sam made a whimpery sound deep in his throat. He was so scared he might have pissed himself all over again, but the cold was in him, a cold so savage that his bladder felt frozen solid. The Other slid gracefully from the saddle to stand upon the snow. Sword-slim it was, and milky white. Its armor rippled and shifted as it moved, and its feet did not break the crust of the new-fallen snow.
小保罗取下绑在后背的长柄斧，“你为什么伤害这匹马？这是毛尼的马。”
Small Paul unslung the long-hafted axe strapped across his back. “Why’d you hurt that horse? That was Mawney’s horse.”
山姆摸向自己的剑，鞘是空的。他这才想起把它丢在了先民拳峰。
Sam groped for the hilt of his sword, but the scabbard was empty. He had lost it on the Fist, he remembered too late.
“滚开！”葛兰跨了一步，火炬伸在前面。“滚开，否则烧死你！”他用火焰指着它。
“Get away!” Grenn took a step, thrusting the torch out before him. “Away, or you burn.” He poked at it with the flames.
异鬼的剑闪着淡淡而诡异的蓝光。它移向葛兰，闪电般攻打过来。冰蓝的剑刃扫过火焰，发出尖锐的响声，如针一样刺痛山姆的耳朵。火炬头被切下，翻落在深深的积雪中，火焰立即熄灭，葛兰手里只剩一小段木棍。他诅咒着将它朝异鬼扔去，小保罗则提起斧子冲锋。
The Other’s sword gleamed with a faint blue glow. It moved toward Grenn, lightning quick, slashing. When the ice blue blade brushed the flames, a screech stabbed Sam’s ears sharp as a needle. The head of the torch tumbled sideways to vanish beneath a deep drift of snow, the fire snuffed out at once. And all Grenn held was a short wooden stick. He flung it at the Other, cursing, as Small Paul charged in with his axe.
此刻充斥他心中的恐惧，比以往任何情形尤有甚之，而山姆威尔·塔利早已了解每一种恐惧。“圣母慈悲，”他抽噎着，惊恐中，将北方的旧神统统抛诸脑后，“天父保佑，噢，噢……”他伸手胡乱摸索，够到一把匕首。
The fear that filled Sam then was worse than any fear he had ever felt before, and Samwell Tarly knew every kind of fear. “Mother have mercy,” he wept, forgetting the old gods in his terror. “Father protect me, oh oh …” His fingers found his dagger and he filled his hand with that.
尸鬼的行动笨拙而缓慢，但异鬼如风中的雪花一样轻盈。它闪过保罗的长柄斧，盔甲的图案如波光般涟漪，而水晶的剑回扣、翻转，滑进保罗锁甲的铁环间，穿过皮革、羊毛、骨头与血肉，从他后背“嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶嘶”地穿出。只听保罗叫了声“噢”，斧子便从手里松脱。他被钉在水晶剑上，热血在周围蒸汽朦朦，大个子抓向对手，可在几乎快要碰到时，倒了下去，他的体重将那柄诡异的白剑从异鬼手中拉扯下来。
The wights had been slow clumsy things, but the Other was light as snow on the wind. It slid away from Paul’s axe, armor rippling, and its crystal sword twisted and spun and slipped between the iron rings of Paul’s mail, through leather and wool and bone and flesh. It came out his back with a hissssssssssss and Sam heard Paul say, “Oh,” as he lost the axe. Impaled, his blood smoking around the sword, the big man tried to reach his killer with his hands and almost had before he fell. The weight of him tore the strange pale sword from the Other’s grip.
停，停下别哭，停下来战斗，你这没用的小子。战斗啊，胆小鬼！这是父亲的声音？艾里沙·索恩的声音？弟弟狄肯的声音？还是那个叫雷斯特的男孩？胆小鬼，胆小鬼，胆小鬼！他歇斯底里地笑起来，不知它们会不会把他也变成尸鬼，一个又白又胖又大的尸鬼，一个老是被已死的双脚绊倒的尸鬼。停，停下别哭，停下来战斗。这是琼恩的声音？不可能，琼恩已经死了。你能行，你能行，快啊。于是他跌跌撞撞地往前撞去，与其说在跑，不如说是跌倒前的踉跄，他闭起眼睛，双手握住那把匕首，盲目地乱戳。只听喀嚓一声，好像冰在脚下碎裂的响动，随后是一声尖啸，如此犀利，以至于他扔了匕首，双手捂住耳朵，盲目向后退去，一屁股沉重地坐到地上。
Do it now. Stop crying and fight, you baby. Fight, craven. It was his father he heard, it was Alliser Thorne, it was his brother Dickon and the boy Rast. Craven, craven, craven. He giggled hysterically, wondering if they would make a wight of him, a huge fat white wight always tripping over its own dead feet. Do it, Sam. Was that Jon, now? Jon was dead. You can do it, you can, just do it. And then he was stumbling forward, falling more than running, really, closing his eyes and shoving the dagger blindly out before him with both hands. He heard a crack, like the sound ice makes when it breaks beneath a man’s foot, and then a screech so shrill and sharp that he went staggering backward with his hands over his muffled ears, and fell hard on his arse.
当他睁开眼睛，异鬼的盔甲正像露水一样融化，黑色的龙晶匕首插在它咽喉，淡蓝的血从伤口喷出，在匕首周围嘶嘶冒气。它伸出两只骸骨般苍白的手去拔匕首，但指头一触到黑曜石便开始冒烟消解。
When he opened his eyes the Other’s armor was running down its legs in rivulets as pale blue blood hissed and steamed around the black dragonglass dagger in its throat. It reached down with two bone-white hands to pull out the knife, but where its fingers touched the obsidian they smoked.
山姆侧身坐起，瞪大了眼睛，异鬼的身躯正逐渐缩小，混沌模糊，化为一滩液体，最后彻底消失。几十个心跳间，形体已然不存，只余细细一缕盘旋散发的烟雾。下面是乳白玻璃般的骨头，闪着苍白的光，接着也融化了。最后，只有龙晶匕首存留，水汽缭绕中，它仿佛有了生命，好像在出汗。葛兰弯腰去拣，却又立即将它甩开，“圣母啊，它好冷！”
Sam rolled onto his side, eyes wide as the Other shrank and puddled, dissolving away. In twenty heartbeats its flesh was gone, swirling away in a fine white mist. Beneath were bones like milkglass, pale and shiny, and they were melting too. Finally only the dragonglass dagger remained, wreathed in steam as if it were alive and sweating. Grenn bent to scoop it up and flung it down again at once. “Mother, that’s cold.”
“这是黑曜石，”山姆挣扎着跪起来，“他们管它叫龙晶。龙晶。龙晶。”他咯咯发笑，然后大哭一场，将所有的勇气倾倒在雪地上。
“Obsidian.” Sam struggled to his knees. “Dragonglass, they call it. Dragonglass. Dragon glass.” He giggled, and cried, and doubled over to heave his courage out onto the snow.
葛兰扶山姆起身，检查了小保罗的脉搏后，替他合上眼睛，然后再次抓起匕首。这回拿得住了。
Grenn pulled Sam to his feet, checked Small Paul for a pulse and closed his eyes, then snatched up the dagger again. This time he was able to hold it.
“你留着它，”山姆道，“你不像我，你不是胆小鬼。”
“You keep it,” Sam said. “You’re not craven like me.”
“好个胆小鬼，连异鬼都杀得了。”葛兰用匕首向前指指，“看哪，看到了吗？光明正穿过树木照进来。天亮了，山姆，天亮了，那就是东方。我们只需往前走，就一定找到莫尔蒙。”
“So craven you killed an Other.” Grenn pointed with the knife. “Look there, through the trees. Pink light. Dawn, Sam. Dawn. That must be east. If we head that way, we should catch Mormont.”
“随你怎么说。”山姆用左脚踢了一棵树，以振落上面的雪，接着右脚也踢。“我试试看，”他苦着脸跨了一步，“努力试试看，”接着又跨一步。
“If you say.” Sam kicked his left foot against a tree, to knock off all the snow. Then the right. “I’ll try.” Grimacing, he took a step. “I’ll try hard.” And then another.