Chapter 第三十一章 梅丽珊卓
MELISANDRE
梅丽珊卓的房间从未真正黑暗过。
It was never truly dark in Melisandre’s chambers.
窗台上的三支兽脂蜡烛驱散了黑夜的恐怖。另外还有四支在床的两边摇曳着，每边两支。 壁炉里的火则昼夜不熄。 她的任何一个侍从，在开始侍奉她时必学第一课就是： 永远， 永远不能让壁炉里的火焰熄灭。
Three tallow candles burned upon her windowsill to keep the terrors of the night at bay. Four more flickered beside her bed, two to either side. In the hearth a fire was kept burning day and night. The first lesson those who would serve her had to learn was that the fire must never, ever be allowed to go out.
红衣女祭司闭目祈祷，然后再一次睁开眼凝视火焰。 她得再看一次。 她得保证没看错。 无数的祭司曾经栽倒在错误的幻象上，他们从火焰中看到的是一厢情愿的幻象，却误以为是光之王所赐。 史坦尼斯国王在向南方进军， 处境危险。 他是亚瑟亚亥再世， 他肩负着整个世界的命运。 光之王拉赫洛当然会赐予她幻象， 让她在火焰中一瞥他的未来。 光之王， 让我看到史坦尼斯吧， 她祈祷着。 让我看到你的国王， 你在世间的代言者吧。
The red priestess closed her eyes and said a prayer, then opened them once more to face the hearthfire. One more time. She had to be certain. Many a priest and priestess before her had been brought down by false visions, by seeing what they wished to see instead of what the Lord of Light had sent. Stannis was marching south into peril, the king who carried the fate of the world upon his shoulders, Azor Ahai reborn. Surely R’hllor would vouchsafe her a glimpse of what awaited him. Show me Stannis, Lord, she prayed. Show me your king, your instrument.
在她面前， 忽隐忽现的幻象在火焰中摇曳着， 一个幻象刚成形， 又开始消融， 渐隐成另外一个； 颜色忽而金黄， 忽而猩红； 形状忽而怪异， 忽而恐怖， 忽而魅惑，她再一次看到一张张挖去眼珠的脸， 空洞的眼窝泣着鲜血， 盯着她看。 然后是一座海边的塔楼， 被从深渊中涌起的狂暴的黑潮冲垮， 淹没。一个个骷髅形的暗影在飞舞， 又消散成迷雾， 一具具躯体饥渴地纠缠在一起，扭动着， 翻滚着， 撕扯着。 透过火焰的帷幕，她看到一只只长着巨大双翼的暗影盘旋着， 飞向瓦蓝瓦蓝的天空。
Visions danced before her, gold and scarlet, flickering, forming and melting and dissolving into one another, shapes strange and terrifying and seductive. She saw the eyeless faces again, staring out at her from sockets weeping blood. Then the towers by the sea, crumbling as the dark tide came sweeping over them, rising from the depths. Shadows in the shape of skulls, skulls that turned to mist, bodies locked together in lust, writhing and rolling and clawing. Through curtains of fire great winged shadows wheeled against a hard blue sky.
那个女孩。 我得再看一次那个女孩， 骑在奄奄一息的马上的灰衣女孩。琼恩雪诺会问起她的， 很快就会问的。 到时候， 仅仅告诉他她正在逃跑是不够的。 他会问得更详细， 他会问时间和地点， 可是她还什么都不知道。 那个灰衣女孩她只在火焰中见过一次。 而且刚一看到她， 她就开始碎裂， 继而消散了。
The girl. I must find the girl again, the grey girl on the dying horse. Jon Snow would expect that of her, and soon. It would not be enough to say the girl was fleeing. He would want more, he would want the when and where, and she did not have that for him. She had seen the girl only once. A girl as grey as ash, and even as I watched she crumbled and blew away.
她看到一张脸在壁炉的火焰中成形。 史坦尼斯？ 她只迟疑了一小会儿 … 不是， 五官完全不像他。 脸是木头的， 颜色像死尸一样白。 是敌人吗？ 成千只红色的眼睛在升腾的火苗中漂浮着。 他看见我了。 在他旁边， 一个狼脸的男孩仰起头， 向天嚎叫着。
A face took shape within the hearth. Stannis? she thought, for just a moment … but no, these were not his features. A wooden face, corpse white. Was this the enemy? A thousand red eyes floated in the rising flames. He sees me. Beside him, a boy with a wolf’s face threw back his head and howled.
红衣女祭司颤栗着。 黑色的血液冒着烟沿着她的大腿流淌下来。火焰充满她的身体， 极度的痛楚， 极度的狂喜， 充实着她， 炙烤着她， 炽焰让她的身体都变形了。热浪像情人急切的手，在她肌肤上描绘着花样。来自遥远过去的陌生声音呼喊着她。“梅洛妮，” 她听到一个女人在哭喊。一个男人的声音在叫，“第七组。（Lot Seven）” 她在哭泣， 从她眼里流出的泪都是火焰。 而她只能默默地吞掉。
The red priestess shuddered. Blood trickled down her thigh, black and smoking. The fire was inside her, an agony, an ecstasy, filling her, searing her, transforming her. Shimmers of heat traced patterns on her skin, insistent as a lover’s hand. Strange voices called to her from days long past. “Melony,” she heard a woman cry. A man’s voice called, “Lot Seven.” She was weeping, and her tears were flame. And still she drank it in.
雪花从黑暗的天空飞旋而下， 漫天的火灰扶摇直上迎着雪花。灰色和白色在半空中相互盘旋飞扬着，而此时， 燃烧的火箭在空中划着弧线， 在 一座木墙和一群在黑暗中无声地蹒跚着的死人 上方飞过。
Snowflakes swirled from a dark sky and ashes rose to meet them, the grey and the white whirling around each other as flaming arrows arced above a wooden wall and dead things shambled silent through the cold, beneath a great grey cliff where fires burned inside a hundred caves. Then the wind rose and the white mist came sweeping in, impossibly cold, and one by one the fires went out. Afterward only the skulls remained.
在一座高高的灰色悬崖下， 在成百个洞穴中， 火焰仍然在燃烧着。然而，紧接着起风了， 白雾涌进山洞， 带着刺骨的寒冷， 终于火焰一堆接一堆地熄灭了。再往后， 所有的幻像都消失了， 除了无数的骷髅头。
Death, thought Melisandre. The skulls are death.
死亡， 梅丽珊卓想。 骷髅头预示死亡。 火焰燃烧着， 发出细碎的爆裂声， 在轻微的劈劈啪啪声中， 她听到了呓语声， 是一个名字， 琼恩雪诺。 橘红色的火舌勾勒出他的长脸， 忽隐忽现地浮现在她面前， 像是透过飘动的门帘看到的若隐若现的影子。他开始时是一个人， 接着变幻成狼形， 然后又变幻成人。 但是不管他如何变幻， 骷髅头总是到处都是， 始终围绕着他。 梅丽珊卓以前就在火焰中看见过了， 她已经警告过他， 他身处险境， 从四面包围着他的敌人， 黑暗中的匕首。
The flames crackled softly, and in their crackling she heard the whispered name Jon Snow. His long face floated before her, limned in tongues of red and orange, appearing and disappearing again, a shadow half-seen behind a fluttering curtain. Now he was a man, now a wolf, now a man again. But the skulls were here as well, the skulls were all around him. Melisandre had seen his danger before, had tried to warn the boy of it. Enemies all around him, daggers in the dark. He would not listen.
他不相信。 不到山穷水尽， 这些异教徒是从来不相信的。
Unbelievers never listened until it was too late.
“你看见什么了， 女士？” 男孩轻声问道
“What do you see, my lady?” the boy asked, softly.
骷髅头。 成千上万的骷髅头。 又看到那个私生子了， 琼恩雪诺。 只要有人问她在火焰中看到了什么， 梅丽珊卓就会故作轻松地回答， “很多很多，” 但是观火看预兆从来就没这么轻松。观火这门技艺， 像所有的技艺那样， 需要长期控制， 修炼， 和学习。 痛苦。 还有痛苦。拉赫洛以灰烬和摇曳的火舌为语言， 向被他选中的信徒传达预兆。 这门语言艰深微妙， 只有神自己才能百分之百地熟练掌握。梅丽珊卓花了多少年修炼这门技艺， 她自己都数不清了。 而且， 除了长期的修炼， 她还额外付出了巨大的代价。最终， 从圣火中观看并解读模棱两可的预兆， 这门技艺， 没有任何一个人拥有像她这样深厚的功力， 包括她的修道会同门。
Skulls. A thousand skulls, and the bastard boy again. Jon Snow. Whenever she was asked what she saw within her fires, Melisandre would answer, “Much and more,” but seeing was never as simple as those words suggested. It was an art, and like all arts it demanded mastery, discipline, study. Pain. That too. R’hllor spoke to his chosen ones through blessed fire, in a language of ash and cinder and twisting flame that only a god could truly grasp. Melisandre had practiced her art for years beyond count, and she had paid the price. There was no one, even in her order, who had her skill at seeing the secrets half-revealed and half-concealed within the sacred flames.
可是眼下她甚至在幻像中都看不到自己的国王。 我祈求拉赫洛让我一瞥亚瑟·亚亥的未来， 看到的却只是琼恩·雪诺。“戴冯，” 她吩咐道， “水。” 她的喉咙干渴得都皲裂了。
Yet now she could not even seem to find her king. I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R’hllor shows me only Snow. “Devan,” she called, “a drink.” Her throat was raw and parched.
“好的，女士。” 小伙子从窗边的石壶里倒了一杯水， 端来递给她。
“Yes, my lady.” The boy poured her a cup of water from the stone jug by the window and brought it to her.
“谢谢你。” 梅丽珊卓抿了一口水， 咽了下去， 抬头向小伙子笑了笑。 他脸刷的红了， 小伙子有几分爱上了她， 她知道的。 他畏惧我， 他想要我， 他还崇拜我。
“Thank you.” Melisandre took a sip, swallowed, and gave the boy a smile. That made him blush. The boy was half in love with her, she knew. He fears me, he wants me, and he worships me.
即便如此， 戴冯并不高兴待在这里。这孩子对国王侍从的身份极其自豪， 当史坦尼斯命令他留守黑堡时， 他的自尊心受到了极大的伤害。像同龄的男孩子一样， 他满脑子都梦想着荣誉。 毫无疑问， 他一直在盘算着要在 深林堡 的战斗中展示出自己是多么的勇猛。（现在， ）同龄的男孩子们， 都随军南行了， 他们都是国王的骑士们的侍从， 他们会与骑士们并肩战斗。（而他戴冯却留守在这里， ）他把留守看成是受了谴责和惩罚， 他还以为他在侍奉国王时犯了什么过失， 或者他父亲犯了什么过失呢。
All the same, Devan was not pleased to be here. The lad had taken great pride in serving as a king’s squire, and it had wounded him when Stannis commanded him to remain at Castle Black. Like any boy his age, his head was full of dreams of glory; no doubt he had been picturing the prowess he would display at Deepwood Motte. Other boys his age had gone south, to serve as squires to the king’s knights and ride into battle at their side. Devan’s exclusion must have seemed a rebuke, a punishment for some failure on his part, or perhaps for some failure of his father.
其实（他啥过失都没有）， 他是梅丽珊卓从国王那儿要来的。黑水河一役， 炼金术士的野火几乎焚毁了国王的整支舰队， 戴佛斯·席渥斯在此役牺牲了的四个大儿子。戴冯是第五子， 他在这里比随国王进军安全多了。 戴冯是不会感谢她的， 他父亲更加不会， 但是戴佛斯·席渥斯不能再承受丧子之痛了， 他已经承受得太多太多了。虽然席渥斯误入歧途（顽固地不信奉光之王）， 但是他对史坦尼斯的忠心是毋容置疑的。 她早就在火焰中看见过了。
In truth, he was here because Melisandre had asked for him. The four eldest sons of Davos Seaworth had perished in the battle on the Blackwater, when the king’s fleet had been consumed by green fire. Devan was the fifthborn and safer here with her than at the king’s side. Lord Davos would not thank her for it, no more than the boy himself, but it seemed to her that Seaworth had suffered enough grief. Misguided as he was, his loyalty to Stannis could not be doubted. She had seen that in her flames.
戴冯聪明伶俐还很能干， 远远强过她的大部分侍从。史坦尼斯南行之前给她留了十二个手下作侍卫， 大都不堪使用。 陛下军中急需好手， 只能留下一些老弱病残。其中一人在长城边的战斗中， 脑袋被击中， 成了瞎子， 另外一人， 战马倒地， 压碎了他自己的腿， 成了瘸子。他的卫队长被一个巨人用棍棒敲掉了一只胳膊…还有三人因强奸女野人被史坦尼斯下令给阉了。她还有两个酒鬼加一个胆小鬼。 这个胆小鬼， 国王自己也承认本该绞死他， 可他出身贵族， 他的父兄从一开始就坚定地忠于国王。
Devan was quick and smart and able too, which was more than could be said about most of her attendants. Stannis had left a dozen of his men behind to serve her when he marched south, but most of them were useless. His Grace had need of every sword, so all he could spare were greybeards and cripples. One man had been blinded by a blow to his head in the battle by the Wall, another lamed when his falling horse crushed his legs. Her serjeant had lost an arm to a giant’s club. Three of her guard were geldings that Stannis had castrated for raping wildling women. She had two drunkards and a craven too. The last should have been hanged, as the king himself admitted, but he came from a noble family, and his father and brothers had been stalwart from the first.
红衣女祭司很清楚卫队的作用， 她出行带卫队， 只是为了获得黑衣兄弟们恰如其分的尊敬。假如她果真遇险了， 斯坦尼斯留下的这帮人， 她是不敢指望他们的。她也不需要指望他们。 亚夏的梅丽珊卓从不担心自身安危。 她有光之王保护。
Having guards about her would no doubt help keep the black brothers properly respectful, the red priestess knew, but none of the men that Stannis had given her were like to be much help should she find herself in peril. It made no matter. Melisandre of Asshai did not fear for herself. R’hllor would protect her.
她又抿了一口水， 放下杯子， 眨眨眼睛， 舒展一下筋骨， 她从椅子上站起来， 全身酸痛发僵。由于长时间凝视火焰， 在明亮的房间里， 她却感到很阴暗， 过了好一会她才把眼睛调整过来…她的双眼既干涩又疲劳， 可是她又不敢揉， 那样眼睛只会更糟。
She took another sip of water, laid her cup aside, blinked and stretched and rose from her chair, her muscles sore and stiff. After gazing into the flames so long, it took her a few moments to adjust to the dimness. Her eyes were dry and tired, but if she rubbed them, it would only make them worse.
她注意到壁炉里的火势在衰下去。 “戴冯， 添点柴。 多早了？”
Her fire had burned low, she saw. “Devan, more wood. What hour is it?”
“天快亮了， 女士。”
“Almost dawn, my lady.”
黎明。 感谢光之王， 他又赐给我们新的一天。 白昼将至， 黑夜的恐怖在消退。梅丽珊卓又一次对着火焰坐了整整一夜。 她经常如此。 自从史坦尼斯南行后， 床就没什么用了。 她感到全世界的命运都压在自己肩上， 她没时间睡觉。何况她害怕做梦。 睡眠只不过是短时间的死亡， 而梦境则是异鬼的呓语， 异鬼会把我们都拖进他那永恒的黑夜。 她宁愿坐在光之王的圣火前， 沐浴在红艳艳的火光中， 让火焰的热浪冲刷着她的脸颊， 红扑扑的像是情人吻过一样。 有时候她也打盹， 但从不超过一个小时。梅丽珊卓祈求着，总有一天， 她会再也不需要睡觉。总有一天， 她会再也不害怕做梦。 梅洛妮， 她回想着。 第七组。
Dawn. Another day is given us, R’hllor be praised. The terrors of the night recede. Melisandre had spent the night in her chair by the fire, as she often did. With Stannis gone, her bed saw little use. She had no time for sleep, with the weight of the world upon her shoulders. And she feared to dream. Sleep is a little death, dreams the whisperings of the Other, who would drag us all into his eternal night. She would sooner sit bathed in the ruddy glow of her red lord’s blessed flames, her cheeks flushed by the wash of heat as if by a lover’s kisses. Some nights she drowsed, but never for more than an hour. One day, Melisandre prayed, she would not sleep at all. One day she would be free of dreams. Melony, she thought. Lot Seven.
戴冯往壁炉里添了一些圆木， 火焰又升腾起来， 炽烈地燃烧着， 逼迫着阴影一直退后到房间的角落， 光明吞噬了她所有的梦魇。黑暗毕竟再一次消退了 … 虽然只是一小会。 可是在长城以北， 敌人（异鬼）一天天壮大起来， 要是他赢了， 我们就永远看不到黎明了。 她从火焰中看到的就是他的脸吗？不会。 肯定不会的。他的相貌肯定要恐怖得多， 冷酷，阴暗， 盯着他看上一眼就会吓死。从火焰中看到的那张脸， 还有狼脸男孩， … 他们只是他的奴仆，肯定如此， … ， 他的战士， 就像史坦尼斯是她自己的战士一样。梅丽珊卓走到窗前， 推开窗板。
Devan fed fresh logs to the fire until the flames leapt up again, fierce and furious, driving the shadows back into the corners of the room, devouring all her unwanted dreams. The dark recedes again … for a little while. But beyond the Wall, the enemy grows stronger, and should he win the dawn will never come again. She wondered if it had been his face that she had seen, staring out at her from the flames. No. Surely not. His visage would be more frightening than that, cold and black and too terrible for any man to gaze upon and live. The wooden man she had glimpsed, though, and the boy with the wolf’s face … they were his servants, surely … his champions, as Stannis was hers.
窗外， 东方的天际刚刚开始泛白， 天空依然漆黑， 一颗颗晨星高悬着。 黑堡已经开始有动静了。 那是黑衣守夜人赶着穿过庭院， 准备就着几碗稀饭吃完早餐， 好去接替城墙上站岗的兄弟。雪花在风中飞扬， 有几片从敞开的窗户飘了进来。
Melisandre went to her window, pushed open the shutters. Outside the east had just begun to lighten, and the stars of morning still hung in a pitch-black sky. Castle Black was already beginning to stir as men in black cloaks made their way across the yard to break their fast with bowls of porridge before they relieved their brothers atop the Wall. A few snowflakes drifted by the open window, floating on the wind.
“要准备早餐吗， 女士？” 戴冯问道。
“Does my lady wish to break her fast?” asked Devan.
食物。 是的， 我需要吃饭。 有时候她会忘记这一点。 凡是身体所需的养料， 拉赫洛都已经赐给她了， 她没必要吃饭。 不过最好不要让这些凡人知道。
Food. Yes, I should eat. Some days she forgot. R’hllor provided her with all the nourishment her body needed, but that was something best concealed from mortal men.
她要的是琼恩雪诺， 不是煎面包和熏肉， 可是让戴冯去叫他也没用， 他不会来的。雪诺依然住在军械库后面那两间朴实的房间里， 守夜人军团的前任铁匠曾经住那儿。可能他觉得自己不配住国王塔 ， 也可能他觉得住哪都无所谓。 这可不对。 年轻人故作谦卑本身就是一种骄傲。（再说，）统治者完全不讲排场， 是极不明智的， 因为在一定程度上， 排场是权力的源泉。
It was Jon Snow she needed, not fried bread and bacon, but it was no use sending Devan to the lord commander. He would not come to her summons. Snow still chose to dwell behind the armory, in a pair of modest rooms previously occupied by the Watch’s late blacksmith. Perhaps he did not think himself worthy of the King’s Tower, or perhaps he did not care. That was his mistake, the false humility of youth that is itself a sort of pride. It was never wise for a ruler to eschew the trappings of power, for power itself flows in no small measure from such trappings.
不过， 小伙子倒也不是那样天真幼稚。有事时， 他从不主动来她的居室， 他知道， 这么做就好像是来求她。 相反， 他一定要她去见他。更过分的是， 他往往会让她久等， 甚至不见。 至少在这点上， 他还有点精明劲。
The boy was not entirely naive, however. He knew better than to come to Melisandre’s chambers like a supplicant, insisting she come to him instead should she have need of words with him. And oft as not, when she did come, he would keep her waiting or refuse to see her. That much, at least, was shrewd.
“荨麻茶， 煮鸡蛋， 黄油面包， 面包要新鲜， 不要煎的， 也请你把野人找来， 告诉他我找他有事。 ”
“I will have nettle tea, a boiled egg, and bread with butter. Fresh bread, if you please, not fried. You may find the wildling as well. Tell him that I must speak with him.”
“叮当衫吗， 女士？”
“Rattleshirt, my lady?”
“而且要快。”
“And quickly.”
趁戴冯出去， 梅丽珊卓洗了个澡，换上长袍。她的衣袖满是暗袋， 她仔细地检查着， 看各种药粉是不是都装在正确的暗袋里。 她每天早上都要检查一遍的。 让火焰变绿色的药粉， 变蓝色， 银色的药粉，让火焰发出轰鸣声， 嗤嗤声的药粉， 让火焰猛蹿起来比人还高的药粉， 还有制造烟雾的药粉。有让人不由自主口吐真言的烟， 催人欲望的烟， 让人心生恐惧的烟， 还有一种能让人当场死亡的黑色浓烟。 这些各式各样， 每样一小撮的药粉， 就是红衣女祭司的武器。
While the boy was gone, Melisandre washed herself and changed her robes. Her sleeves were full of hidden pockets, and she checked them carefully as she did every morning to make certain all her powders were in place. Powders to turn fire green or blue or silver, powders to make a flame roar and hiss and leap up higher than a man is tall, powders to make smoke. A smoke for truth, a smoke for lust, a smoke for fear, and the thick black smoke that could kill a man outright. The red priestess armed herself with a pinch of each of them.
她从狭海彼岸带来的那只雕花箱子， 只剩下四分之一不到了。制造药粉的配方和工序她倒是知道， 可是她缺乏很多稀有的原料。 有我的符咒就够用了。 在长城这儿， 她的功力精进了许多。 甚至强过她在亚夏的时候。她的每一句咒语， 每一个手势， 都比从前更有威力。 很多从前根本做不到的事， 现在她可以做到了。我在这里能够制造出极其恐怖的的影子， 可以斩杀异鬼的任何傀儡。 掌握了这样威力强大的魔法， 很快她就不必使用那些江湖术士的雕虫小技了。
The carved chest that she had brought across the narrow sea was more than three-quarters empty now. And while Melisandre had the knowledge to make more powders, she lacked many rare ingredients. My spells should suffice. She was stronger at the Wall, stronger even than in Asshai. Her every word and gesture was more potent, and she could do things that she had never done before. Such shadows as I bring forth here will be terrible, and no creature of the dark will stand before them. With such sorceries at her command, she should soon have no more need of the feeble tricks of alchemists and pyromancers.
她关箱上锁， 把钥匙藏进裙内另一个暗袋。 有人在敲门。 从那怯生生的敲击声， 她听出那是她的独臂卫队长。 “梅丽珊卓女士， 骸骨之王来了。”
She shut the chest, turned the lock, and hid the key inside her skirts in another secret pocket. Then came a rapping at her door. Her one-armed serjeant, from the tremulous sound of his knock. “Lady Melisandre, the Lord o’ Bones is come.”
“请他进来。” 梅丽珊卓在壁炉前的椅子上坐好。
“Send him in.” Melisandre settled herself back into the chair beside the hearth.
野人穿着缀满骨钉的无袖皮甲， 披着绿色和棕色混杂的破旧斗篷。他没穿骨甲。 他还穿着件无形的斗篷。 缕缕凌乱的灰雾， 紧贴着他的脸和身体， 若隐若现地缭绕着， 他走到哪里， 灰雾就跟到哪里。 丑陋的家伙。 跟他的骨甲一样丑。 V型发尖耷拉在额头上， 双眼离得很近， 脸颊干瘪发皱， 唇上的小胡子像条毛虫， 在他满口焦黄的烂牙上方蠕动着。
The wildling wore a sleeveless jerkin of boiled leather dotted with bronze studs beneath a worn cloak mottled in shades of green and brown. No bones. He was cloaked in shadows too, in wisps of ragged grey mist, half-seen, sliding across his face and form with every step he took. Ugly things. As ugly as his bones. A widow’s peak, close-set dark eyes, pinched cheeks, a mustache wriggling like a worm above a mouthful of broken brown teeth.
梅丽珊卓喉咙上的红宝石突然受到激发， 微微地发着热。它感应到了它的奴隶就在附近。 “你没穿骨甲。” 她说。
Melisandre felt the warmth in the hollow of her throat as her ruby stirred at the closeness of its slave. “You have put aside your suit of bones,” she observed.
“噼里啪啦的， 搞得我都快疯了。”
“The clacking was like to drive me mad.”
“骨甲能保护你，” 她提醒她。 “黑衣兄弟不喜欢你。 戴冯告诉我， 就在昨天晚饭时你跟他们吵了一架。”
“The bones protect you,” she reminded him. “The black brothers do not love you. Devan tells me that only yesterday you had words with some of them over supper.”
“是吵了几句。 我在喝豆子熏肉汤， 波文·马尔锡正说着高地的事儿。老石榴以为我在偷听， 说他不会容忍杀人犯旁听他们的议事会。我告诉他， 真是这样的话， 也许他们不应该在火旁开议事会。 波文·马尔锡脸涨得通红， 声音就像是呛着了。 不过我们就到此为止了。” 野人坐在窗户边缘， 从鞘里抽出匕首。“如果有哪个乌鸦想在我喝汤时捅我一刀， 我求之不得呢。 滴点乌鸦血做调料， 三指哈布煮的粥也许会好吃点。”
“A few. I was eating bean-and-bacon soup whilst Bowen Marsh was going on about the high ground. The Old Pomegranate thought that I was spying on him and announced that he would not suffer murderers listening to their councils. I told him that if that was true, maybe they shouldn’t have them by the fire. Bowen turned red and made some choking sounds, but that was as far as it went.” The wildling sat on the edge of the window, slid his dagger from its sheath. “If some crow wants to slip a knife between my ribs whilst I’m spooning up some supper, he’s welcome to try. Hobb’s gruel would taste better with a drop of blood to spice it.”
对野人手里出鞘的匕首， 她没放在心上。如果野人想害她， 她早就在火焰中预见到了。当年她学习观火焰看幻象时， 最早学会的就是事关切身安危的幻象。 那时候， 她还是个半大孩子， 一个拉赫洛大神庙里的终身女奴。直到现在， 她在观火时首先要看的还是自身安危。“他们的眼睛才对你有危险， 不是他们的刀。” 她告诫他。
Melisandre paid the naked steel no mind. If the wildling had meant her harm, she would have seen it in her flames. Danger to her own person was the first thing she had learned to see, back when she was still half a child, a slave girl bound for life to the great red temple. It was still the first thing she looked for whenever she gazed into a fire. “It is their eyes that should concern you, not their knives,” she warned him.
“你施的魔法， 对。” 他手腕上系着手铐， 手铐上有颗红宝石闪烁着。他用匕首尖敲了敲红宝石， 发出哒哒的金石撞击声。“我睡觉时能感觉到它。 隔着手铐都能感受到它的热度。 温和得就像女人的吻， 你的吻。 除了有时候在我做梦时， 它开始发烫， 这时候你的唇就变成了牙齿。每一天我都打算把它撬掉， 结果每一天都没撬。那个破烂骨甲我也非穿不可吗？
“The glamor, aye.” In the black iron fetter about his wrist, the ruby seemed to pulse. He tapped it with the edge of his blade. The steel made a faint click against the stone. “I feel it when I sleep. Warm against my skin, even through the iron. Soft as a woman’s kiss. Your kiss. But sometimes in my dreams it starts to burn, and your lips turn into teeth. Every day I think how easy it would be to pry it out, and every day I don’t. Must I wear the bloody bones as well?”
“这条咒语是通过影像和暗示起作用的。人们总是看见他们料想到的东西。 骨甲能增强咒语的效果。” 这个人我是不是救错了？ “如果我的魔法失效， 他们就会杀了你。”
“The spell is made of shadow and suggestion. Men see what they expect to see. The bones are part of that.” Was I wrong to spare this one? “If the glamor fails, they will kill you.”
野人开始用匕首尖从指甲缝里刮污垢。“我唱过歌， 打过仗， 品过夏日红， 尝过多恩人的老婆。 男子汉怎么活着就该怎么死去。 对我来说， 就是长剑在手， 死于战斗。”
The wildling began to scrape the dirt out from beneath his nails with the point of his dagger. “I’ve sung my songs, fought my battles, drunk summer wine, tasted the Dornishman’s wife. A man should die the way he’s lived. For me that’s steel in hand.”
他渴望死亡吗？异鬼是不是已经感染了他？死亡是他的领地， 亡灵都是他的士兵。 “快了， 你很快就需要拿起长剑的。 敌人（异鬼）已经行动起来了。 真正的敌人。雪诺大人的游骑兵天黑前就会回来。 他们的眼睛都瞎了， 流着血。”
Does he dream of death? Could the enemy have touched him? Death is his domain, the dead his soldiers. “You shall have work for your steel soon enough. The enemy is moving, the true enemy. And Lord Snow’s rangers will return before the day is done, with their blind and bloody eyes.”
野人眯起他自己的眼睛， 梅丽珊卓可以看到， 他眼珠的颜色和着红宝石闪烁的节奏交替变幻着， 灰色， 棕色。 灰色， … “挖眼睛， 这个出自哭泣者的手笔。 瞎乌鸦才是好乌鸦， 这是他的口头禅。哭泣者的眼睛又流泪又发痒， 从不间断， 有时候我觉得他恨不得把他自己的眼睛也挖掉。 雪诺推测自由民会投奔托蒙德， 因为他自己就会那么做。 他喜欢托蒙德， 老骗子也喜欢他。可是如果自由民投奔了哭泣者， … 那就不妙了。 雪诺会很麻烦， 我们也会。”
The wildling’s own eyes narrowed. Grey eyes, brown eyes; Melisandre could see the color change with each pulse of the ruby. “Cutting out the eyes, that’s the Weeper’s work. The best crow’s a blind crow, he likes to say. Sometimes I think he’d like to cut out his own eyes, the way they’re always watering and itching. Snow’s been assuming the free folk would turn to Tormund to lead them, because that’s what he would do. He liked Tormund, and the old fraud liked him too. If it’s the Weeper, though … that’s not good. Not for him, and not for us.”
梅丽珊卓严肃地点着头， 假装很重视他的话， 但她心里知道， “哭泣者”无足轻重。他的自由民统统都无足轻重。 他们正在迷失， 他们气数已尽， 他们就像曾经的森林之子， 注定会在大地上绝迹。 这个现在不能告诉他，他不会高兴的， 而她需要他的支持， 至少目前需要。“ 你对北境有多熟悉？”
Melisandre nodded solemnly, as if she had taken his words to heart, but this Weeper did not matter. None of his free folk mattered. They were a lost people, a doomed people, destined to vanish from the earth, as the children of the forest had vanished. Those were not words he would wish to hear, though, and she could not risk losing him, not now. “How well do you know the north?”