TYRION
21提利昂
Are you certain
that you must leave us so soon?” the Lord Commander asked him.
“你真急着要走？”总司令问他。
“Past certain, Lord Mormont,” Tyrion replied. “My brother Jaime will
be wondering what has become of me. He may decide that you have convinced me to
take the black.”
“急不可待啊，莫尔蒙大人。”提利昂答道，“不然詹姆老哥就要担心我出了事，搞不好还以为您劝说我加入黑衣军了呢。”
“Would that I could.” Mormont picked up a crab claw and cracked it in
his fist. Old as he was, the Lord Commander still had the strength of a bear.
“You’re a cunning man, Tyrion. We have need of men of your sort on the Wall.”
“果真能如此倒好。”莫尔蒙拣起一只蟹爪，喀啦一声用手剥开。总司令年纪虽然大了，却仍然有熊一般的力量。“提利昂，你生了副好头脑，长城守军很需要你这样的人。”
Tyrion grinned.
“Then I shall scour the Seven Kingdoms for dwarfs and ship them all to you,
Lord Mormont.” As they laughed, he sucked the meat from a crab leg and reached
for another. The crabs had arrived from Eastwatch only this morning, packed in
a barrel of snow, and they were succulent.
提利昂嘻笑道：“莫尔蒙大人，为您这句话，我一定得把全国的侏儒通通找来给您。”趁众人哄堂大笑，他把蟹角的肉吸进嘴，伸手又拿一只。这些螃蟹当天早上才从东海望运来，送到的时候还冷冻在冰桶里，因此特别鲜美多汁。
Ser Alliser
Thorne was the only man at table who did not so much as crack a smile.
“Lannister mocks us.”
艾里沙·索恩爵士是席间惟一没笑的人。“这兰尼斯特明明是在讽刺我们。”
“Only you, Ser Alliser,” Tyrion said. This time the laughter round
the table had a nervous, uncertain quality to it.
“不是‘你们’，艾里沙爵士，是你。”提利昂道。这次席间的笑声里隐隐带着焦虑不安的气氛。
Thorne’s black
eyes fixed on Tyrion with loathing. “You have a bold tongue for someone who is less
than half a man. Perhaps you and I should visit the yard together.”
索恩盯住提利昂，黑眼睛里带着憎恨。“我看你个头虽然半个人都不到，说起话来倒是口无遮拦。或许我们应该下场子较量较量。”
“Why?” asked Tyrion. “The crabs are here.”
“何苦呢？”提利昂问，“螃蟹都在这儿呐。”
The remark
brought more guffaws from the others. Ser Alliser stood up, his mouth a tight
line. “Come and make your japes with steel in your hand.”
此话一出，众人更是捧腹狂笑。艾里沙爵士抿紧嘴唇，站了起来。“有种你拿上武器，再开玩笑试试看。”
Tyrion looked
pointedly at his right hand. “Why, I have steel in my hand, Ser Alliser,
although it appears to be a crab fork. Shall we duel?” He hopped up on his
chair and began poking at Thorne’s chest with the tiny fork. Roars of laughter
filled the tower room. Bits of crab flew from the Lord Commander’s mouth as he
began to gasp and choke. Even his raven joined in, cawing loudly from above the
window. “Duel! Duel! Duel!”
提利昂故意看看自己右手。“哎呀，艾里沙爵士，这会儿我不就握着武器嘛，虽然只是把吃螃蟹的叉子。怎么，咱们要不要比划比划？”他跳上椅子，开始用那把小叉子戳索恩的胸膛。人们的笑声简直连屋顶都要掀翻。总司令更是连蟹肉都喷了出来，呛得边咳嗽边喘气。他的乌鸦也没闲着，从窗边大声怪叫：“比划！比划！比划！”。
Ser Alliser
Thorne walked from the room so stiffly it looked as though he had a dagger up
his butt.
艾里沙·索恩爵士僵着身子离开大厅，那模样就像胸前被人插了一把匕首。
Mormont was
still gasping for breath. Tyrion pounded him on the back. “To the victor goes
the spoils,” he called out. “I claim Thorne’s share of the crabs.”
莫尔蒙仍然喘不过气，提利昂拍拍他的背。“战利品归胜利者所有，”他高声宣布，“索恩的螃蟹是我的啦。”
Finally the Lord
Commander recovered himself. “You are a wicked man, to provoke our Ser Alliser
so,” he scolded.
总司令好不容易恢复过来。“你看你把咱们艾里沙爵士整成什么样了，你真是个坏心眼的家伙。”他责怪道。
Tyrion seated
himself and took a sip of wine. “If a man paints a target on his chest, he
should expect that sooner or later someone will loose an arrow at him. I have
seen dead men with more humor than your Ser Alliser.”
提利昂正襟危坐，啜了口葡萄酒。“有人要在胸前划上标靶，就该有挨箭的心理准备。比你们艾里沙爵士还有幽默感的死人我见得多了。”
“Not so,” objected the Lord Steward, Bowen Marsh, a man as round and
red as a pomegranate. “You ought to hear the droll names he gives the lads he
trains.”
“这样说就不公平了。”总务长波文·马尔锡长得又红又胖，活像颗石榴。“你应该听听他帮手下受训的小鬼起的绰号有多可笑。”
Tyrion had heard
a few of those droll names. “I’ll wager the lads have a few names for him as
well,” he said. “Chip the ice off your eyes, my good lords. Ser Alliser Thorne
should be mucking out your stables, not drilling your young warriors.”
提利昂知道几个这样的绰号。“我敢打赌那些小鬼帮他取的绰号也不少。”他说：“各位大人，擦亮你们的眼睛吧。艾里沙·索恩爵士能做的是清理马粪，而非训练新兵。”
“The Watch has no shortage of stableboys,” Lord Mormont grumbled.
“That seems to be all they send us these days. Stableboys and sneak thieves and
rapers. Ser Alliser is an anointed knight, one of the few to take the black
since I have been Lord Commander. He fought bravely at King’s Landing.”
“守夜人一点也不缺马夫。”莫尔蒙司令咕哝道，“这年头送来的都是这路货色。不是马僮，就是小偷或强奸犯。艾里沙爵士是我接任司令以来，参加黑衣军的少数几位经正式册封的骑士。他在君临之战中表现很英勇。”
“On the wrong side,” Ser Jaremy Rykker commented dryly. “I ought to
know, I was there on the battlements beside him. Tywin Lannister gave us a
splendid choice. Take the black, or see our heads on spikes before evenfall. No
offense intended, Tyrion.”
“只可惜站错了队，”杰瑞米·莱克爵士冷冷地说，“偏偏我跟他一块犯傻。当时我同他站在城墙上，泰温·兰尼斯特开出的条件宽厚得紧，要嘛穿上黑衣，不然就等着天黑前头被插上枪尖。啊，提利昂，我这话可不是找你碴。”
“None taken, Ser Jaremy. My father is very fond of spiked heads,
especially those of people who have annoyed him in some fashion. And a face as
noble as yours, well, no doubt he saw you decorating the city wall above the
King’s Gate. I think you would have looked very striking up there.”
“没关系，杰瑞米爵士。我老爸很爱把首级挂城墙上，尤其是惹过他的人。以您这张高贵的脸嘛，呃，我看他八成会把你的头挂上国王大门。我猜一定特别引人注目。”
“Thank you,” Ser Jaremy replied with a sardonic smile.
“多谢你哟。”杰瑞米爵士面带讥讽地微笑。
Lord Commander
Mormont cleared his throat. “Sometimes I fear Ser Alliser saw you true, Tyrion.
You do mock us and our noble purpose here.”
莫尔蒙司令清清喉咙。“提利昂，有时候我真觉得艾里沙爵士说得没错，你的确是在嘲弄我们和我们神圣的使命。”
Tyrion shrugged.
“We all need to be mocked from time to time, Lord Mormont, lest we start to
take ourselves too seriously. More wine, please.” He held out his cup.
提利昂耸耸肩。“莫尔蒙大人，我们不时需要被嘲弄嘲弄，以免生活太过严肃。请再帮我倒点酒。”他递出酒杯。
As Rykker filled
it for him, Bowen Marsh said, “You have a great thirst for a small man.”
莱克一边帮他斟酒，波文·马尔锡一边说：“你个子不大，酒量倒是不小。”
“Oh, I think that Lord Tyrion is quite a large man,” Maester Aemon
said from the far end of the table. He spoke softly, yet the high officers of
the Night’s Watch all fell quiet, the better to hear what the ancient had to
say. “I think he is a giant come among us, here at the end of the world.”
“噢，我却觉得提利昂大人一点也不小。”坐在长桌末端的伊蒙学士说，守夜人部队的高级官员们立刻都安静下来，凝神倾听长者的话。“他是我们中的巨人，一个来到世界尽头的巨人。”
Tyrion answered
gently, “I’ve been called many things, my lord, but giant is seldom one of
them.”
提利昂轻声答道：“好师傅，我有过的绰号不老少，可‘巨人’还是头一遭听到。”
“Nonetheless,” Maester Aemon said as his clouded, milk-white eyes
moved to Tyrion’s face, “I think it is true.”
“是这样么，”伊蒙师傅道，他白浊的眼翳朝提利昂脸上移去。“我说的可是真心话。”
For once, Tyrion
Lannister found himself at a loss for words. He could only bow his head
politely and say, “You are too kind, Maester Aemon.”
提利昂竟无言以对。他只有礼貌性地低头说：“伊蒙师傅，您太客气了。”
The blind man
smiled. He was a tiny thing, wrinkled and hairless, shrunken beneath the weight
of a hundred years so his maester’s collar with its links of many metals hung
loose about his throat. “I have been called many things, my lord,” he said,
“but kind is seldom one of them.” This time Tyrion himself led the laughter.
盲眼学士微微一笑。他是个瘦小的老人，满脸皱纹，头已全秃，畏缩于沉重的百年岁月之下，颈间学士项链上的各种金属松垮地挂在咽喉。“我受过的谬赞也不少，可‘客气’倒是头一遭听到。”这一回提利昂率先笑了。
Much later, when
the serious business of eating was done and the others had left, Mormont
offered Tyrion a chair beside the fire and a cup of mulled spirits so strong
they brought tears to his eyes. “The kingsroad can be perilous this far north,”
the Lord Commander told him as they drank.
晚膳用毕，旁人陆续离去之后，莫尔蒙请提利昂在火炉边坐下，递给他一杯烫过的酒，辛辣得使他眼泪都流了下来。“我们地处极北，国王大道这里的路段恐怕好生危险。”他们边喝酒，总司令官边说。
“I have Jyck and Morrec,” Tyrion said, “and Yoren is riding south
again.”
“我有杰克和莫里斯，”提利昂道，“而且尤伦正好也要南下。”
“Yoren is only one man. The Watch shall escort you as far as
Winterfell,” Mormont announced in a tone that brooked no argument. “Three men
should be sufficient.”
“尤伦一个人怎么够。守夜人会护送你到临冬城。”莫尔蒙的口气不容辩驳。“至少要三个人。”
“If you insist, my lord,” Tyrion said. “You might send young Snow. He
would be glad for a chance to see his brothers.”
“司令大人，那我就恭敬不如从命。”提利昂说，“您不妨派出雪诺那小子，让他跟兄弟见个面也好。”
Mormont frowned
through his thick grey beard. “Snow? Oh, the Stark bastard. I think not. The
young ones need to forget the lives they left behind them, the brothers and
mothers and all that. A visit home would only stir up feelings best left alone.
I know these things. My own blood kin?.?.?.?my sister Maege rules Bear Island
now, since my son’s dishonor. I have nieces I have never seen.” He took a
swallow. “Besides, Jon Snow is only a boy. You shall have three strong swords,
to keep you safe.”
莫尔蒙隔着厚厚的灰胡子皱眉道：“雪诺？喔，你是说史塔克那个私生子啊。我看不妥。年轻人得忘掉他们过去的生活，不管兄弟还是老妈都得放下。回家探亲只会再度激起这些早该忘却的情感。我很清楚这些事。我自己的家人……自我儿子辱没家门，只剩我妹妹梅姬接手统治熊岛，我有好些外甥女都没见过。”他灌了口酒。“再说，雪诺只是个小鬼。我要派三个强壮的战士来确保你的安全。”
“I am touched by your concern, Lord Mormont.” The strong drink was
making Tyrion light-headed, but not so drunk that he did not realize that the
Old Bear wanted something from him. “I hope I can repay your kindness.”
“莫尔蒙大人，我真是太感激您的关心了。”烈酒让提利昂飘飘欲醉，但还不至于醉到分不清熊老有事相求的地步。“希望我能回报您的恩情。”
“You can,” Mormont said bluntly. “Your sister sits beside the king.
Your brother is a great knight, and your father the most powerful lord in the
Seven Kingdoms. Speak to them for us. Tell them of our need here. You have seen
for yourself, my lord. The Night’s Watch is dying. Our strength is less than a
thousand now. Six hundred here, two hundred in the Shadow Tower, even fewer at
Eastwatch, and a scant third of those fighting men. The Wall is a hundred
leagues long. Think on that. Should an attack come, I have three men to defend
each mile of wall.”
“你当然能，”莫尔蒙直言不讳，“令姐贵为当今王后，令兄是个伟大的骑士，令尊更是当今七国最有权势的人物。请代我们向他们请愿，告诉他们我们是如何迫切地需要援助。大人，您也亲眼看到了，守夜人部队正在逐渐凋零。我们的人力只剩不到一千，六百守在这里，两百在影子塔，东海望的驻军更少，而其中真正能作战的还不到三分之一——长城则足足有三百里之长。请您想想，要是敌人来袭，每一里我只能派三个人去守。”
“Three and a third,” Tyrion said with a yawn.
“三又三分之一个。”提利昂打了个呵欠。
Mormont scarcely
seemed to hear him. The old man warmed his hands before the fire. “I sent
Benjen Stark to search after Yohn Royce’s son, lost on his first ranging. The
Royce boy was green as summer grass, yet he insisted on the honor of his own
command, saying it was his due as a knight. I did not wish to offend his lord
father, so I yielded. I sent him out with two men I deemed as good as any in
the Watch. More fool I.”
莫尔蒙似乎没在意他的话，老人伸手在火炉前取暖。“我派班扬·史塔克去找约恩·罗伊斯的儿子，他第一次出外巡逻便失踪了。罗伊斯那小子嫩得跟夏天的青草一样，可他偏要坚持亲自领队，说是身为骑士的职责。我因为不想冒犯他老爸，便由他去了。更愚蠢的是，我还派了两个部队里的顶尖好手跟他一道走。”
“Fool,” the raven agreed. Tyrion glanced up. The bird peered down at
him with those beady black eyes, ruffling its wings. “Fool,” it called again.
Doubtless old Mormont would take it amiss if he throttled the creature. A pity.
“愚蠢。”乌鸦同意。提利昂抬头看去，鸟儿用珠子似的黑眼睛睥睨他，抖动着翅膀。“愚蠢。”它又叫。他很想勒死这只鸟，但想到老莫尔蒙必定会生气，只好作罢。
The Lord
Commander took no notice of the irritating bird. “Gared was near as old as I am
and longer on the Wall,” he went on, “yet it would seem he forswore himself and
fled. I should never have believed it, not of him, but Lord Eddard sent me his
head from Winterfell. Of Royce, there is no word. One deserter and two men
lost, and now Ben Stark too has gone missing.” He sighed deeply. “Who am I to
send searching after him? In two years I will be seventy. Too old and too weary
for the burden I bear, yet if I set it down, who will pick it up? Alliser
Thorne? Bowen Marsh? I would have to be as blind as Maester Aemon not to see
what they are. The Night’s Watch has become an army of sullen boys and tired
old men. Apart from the men at my table tonight, I have perhaps twenty who can
read, and even fewer who can think, or plan, or lead. Once the Watch spent its
summers building, and each Lord Commander raised the Wall higher than he found
it. Now it is all we can do to stay alive.”
老司令官毫不理会那只惹人厌的鸟。“盖瑞年纪跟我差不多，但待在长城的时间更久。”他继续说下去，“但他后来似乎是背弃誓言逃跑了。我本来不相信，觉得再怎么也轮不到他，直到他的首级被史塔克大人从临冬城送了来。至于罗伊斯那小子，则是音讯全无。一个逃兵，两个下落不明，这会儿连班扬·史塔克也不见踪影。”他深深叹口气。“这下我该派谁去找他呢？再过两年我都七十了，又老又疲惫，没法再撑下去。然而要是我撒手不管，谁能接手？艾里沙·索恩？波文·马尔锡？若我连他们的真本事都看不清，我就跟伊蒙师傅一样瞎。如今的守夜人部队不过是群郁闷不乐的小伙子和身心俱疲的老头子组成的乌合之众罢了。除了今晚跟我同桌用餐的人，我手下大概只有二十个人识字，能思考、计划或领导的人更少。从前守夜人军团每逢夏季便大兴土木，每任司令官都会加高城墙，而今我们光维持现状都非常吃力。”
He was in deadly
earnest, Tyrion realized. He felt faintly embarrassed for the old man. Lord
Mormont had spent a good part of his life on the Wall, and he needed to believe
if those years were to have any meaning. “I promise, the king will hear of your
need,” Tyrion said gravely, “and I will speak to my father and my brother Jaime
as well.” And he would. Tyrion Lannister was as good as his word. He left the
rest unsaid; that King Robert would ignore him, Lord Tywin would ask if he had
taken leave of his senses, and Jaime would only laugh.
提利昂明白对方话中的迫切，他不禁为眼前这名老人微微感到难过。这位前伯爵大半生都在长城度过，他需要相信自己这些年活得有意义。“我保证会向国王陛下禀报此事，”提利昂郑重地说，“我也会向家父和家兄提起。”这可不是阳奉阴违，提利昂·兰尼斯特向来说话算话。只是他没把其他的部分说出来：劳勃国王不会理睬他，泰温公爵会问他是否神智不清，詹姆则只会哈哈大笑。
“You are a young man, Tyrion,” Mormont said. “How many winters have
you seen?”
“提利昂，你还年轻，”莫尔蒙道，“经历过几个冬天？”
He shrugged.
“Eight, nine. I misremember.”
他耸耸肩。“八九个罢，我记不清了。”
“And all of them short.”
“而且都不长，对吧？”
“As you say, my lord.” He had been born in the dead of winter, a
terrible cruel one that the maesters said had lasted near three years, but
Tyrion’s earliest memories were of spring.
“您说得没错，大人。”他降生于严冬之际，据学士们说，那是特别酷寒的一次冬天，整整长达三年之久，然而提利昂最早的记忆却是春季。
“When I was a boy, it was said that a long summer always meant a long
winter to come. This summer has lasted nine years, Tyrion, and a tenth will
soon be upon us. Think on that.”
“我打小的时候，便听说接着长夏而来的会是更漫长的冬季。这次的夏天已经过了九年，提利昂，很快便要进入第十个年头。想想看这意味着什么罢。”
“When I was a boy,” Tyrion replied, “my wet nurse told me that one
day, if men were good, the gods would give the world a summer without ending.
Perhaps we’ve been better than we thought, and the Great Summer is finally at
hand.” He grinned.
“而我小时候呢，”提利昂应道，“我奶妈告诉我，倘若有朝一日，人们都能和睦相处，知礼向善，那么诸神便会让盛夏永无止尽。说不定是咱们表现得比意料中好，而传说中的永夏已经降临了哪。”他嘻嘻一笑。
The Lord
Commander did not seem amused. “You are not fool enough to believe that, my
lord. Already the days grow shorter. There can be no mistake, Aemon has had
letters from the Citadel, findings in accord with his own. The end of summer
stares us in the face.” Mormont reached out and clutched Tyrion tightly by the
hand. “You must make them understand. I tell you, my lord, the darkness is
coming. There are wild things in the woods, direwolves and mammoths and snow
bears the size of aurochs, and I have seen darker shapes in my dreams.”
守夜人军团总司令却没有开玩笑的心情。“大人，您不会蠢到相信这种事的。白昼已经渐渐缩短，这千真万确。伊蒙收到过学城寄来的信，与他的推论不谋而合。夏日将尽已是不容置疑的事实。”莫尔蒙伸手紧紧抓住提利昂。“你一定得教他们了解事态的严重性。我告诉你，大人，前所未有的黑暗时代即将来临。森林里各种怪兽出没，有冰原狼、长毛象和野牛一般大的雪熊，我还梦见过更可怕的东西。”
“In your dreams,” Tyrion echoed, thinking how badly he needed another
strong drink.
“您梦见过。”提利昂重复，一边觉得自己需要再喝些烈酒。
Mormont was deaf
to the edge in his voice. “The fisherfolk near Eastwatch have glimpsed white
walkers on the shore.”
莫尔蒙没听出他话中带刺。“东海岸的渔夫见过在岸边走动的白鬼。”
This time Tyrion
could not hold his tongue. “The fisherfolk of Lannisport often glimpse
merlings.”
这次提利昂忍不住了。“兰尼斯港的渔夫还经常看到美人鱼呢。”
“Denys Mallister writes that the mountain people are moving south,
slipping past the Shadow Tower in numbers greater than ever before. They are
running, my lord?.?.?.?but running from what?” Lord Mormont moved to the window
and stared out into the night. “These are old bones, Lannister, but they have
never felt a chill like this. Tell the king what I say, I pray you. Winter is
coming, and when the Long Night falls, only the Night’s Watch will stand
between the realm and the darkness that sweeps from the north. The gods help us
all if we are not ready.”
“丹尼斯·梅利斯特写信来说山区蛮族正在南迁，成群结队地溜过影子塔，以前从没有过如此规模的迁徙。大人，他们是在逃跑啊……但是在逃避些什么呢？”莫尔蒙司令走到窗边，向外望进夜色。“兰尼斯特少爷，我这身老骨头还没有过如此寒彻心肺的感觉。我请求您，把我所说的话一字不漏地转告国王陛下。凛冬将至，当长夜降临，守夜人是惟一能保卫王国，抵挡黑暗势力自北方横扫的屏障。倘若我们没有万全准备，天知道下场会多凄惨。”
“The gods help me if I do not get some sleep tonight. Yoren is
determined to ride at first light.” Tyrion got to his feet, sleepy from wine
and tired of doom. “I thank you for all the courtesies you have done me, Lord
Mormont.”
“倘若我今晚不睡觉，天知道下场会多凄惨。尤伦打定主意明早天一亮就动身。”提利昂起立，他已经喝得酩酊大醉，也听够了关于世界末日的预言。“莫尔蒙大人，感谢您的盛情款待。”
“Tell them, Tyrion. Tell them and make them believe. That is all the
thanks I need.” He whistled, and his raven flew to him and perched on his
shoulder. Mormont smiled and gave the bird some corn from his pocket, and that
was how Tyrion left him.
“告诉他们，提利昂，一定要告诉他们，想办法让他们相信。那就是你最好的感谢。”他吹声口哨，乌鸦便朝他飞去，停在他肩膀上。提利昂离开之时，莫尔蒙正微笑着从口袋里掏出谷粒喂它。
It was bitter
cold outside. Bundled thickly in his furs, Tyrion Lannister pulled on his
gloves and nodded to the poor frozen wretches standing sentry outside the
Commander’s Keep. He set off across the yard for his own chambers in the King’s
Tower, walking as briskly as his legs could manage. Patches of snow crunched
beneath his feet as his boots broke the night’s crust, and his breath steamed
before him like a banner. He shoved his hands into his armpits and walked
faster, praying that Morrec had remembered to warm his bed with hot bricks from
the fire.
门外寒气逼人。提利昂·兰尼斯特包裹在厚重的皮毛大衣里，边戴手套，边朝司令官堡垒外站岗的僵硬倒霉鬼点头致意。他迈开步伐，尽他所能地加快脚步，穿过庭院，朝自己位于国王塔的房间走去。靴子踏破寒夜的覆冰，积雪在脚下嘎吱作响，呼吸如旗帜般在眼前凝霜。他两手环胸，走得更快，一心祈祷莫里斯没忘记用火炉里的热砖头替他暖被子。
Behind the
King’s Tower, the Wall glimmered in the light of the moon, immense and
mysterious. Tyrion stopped for a moment to look up at it. His legs ached of
cold and haste.
位于国王塔后方的绝境长城在月光下粼粼发光，庞大而神秘。提利昂不由得驻足凝望，双腿则因酷寒和运动而疼痛不已。
Suddenly a
strange madness took hold of him, a yearning to look once more off the end of
the world. It would be his last chance, he thought; tomorrow he would ride
south, and he could not imagine why he would ever want to return to this frozen
desolation. The King’s Tower was before him, with its promise of warmth and a
soft bed, yet Tyrion found himself walking past it, toward the vast pale
palisade of the Wall.
突然，他心生怪异的狂念，决定再看看世界尽头一眼。这是他这辈子最后的机会罢，他心想，明天就要启程南归，而他实在想不出有何理由重回这冰封的不毛之地。国王塔近在眼前，提利昂却不由自主地绕过它，绕过垂手可得的暖意和温床，朝长城这广大的苍白冰壁走去。
A wooden stair
ascended the south face, anchored on huge rough-hewn beams sunk deep into the
ice and frozen in place. Back and forth it switched, clawing its way upward as
crooked as a bolt of lightning. The black brothers assured him that it was much
stronger than it looked, but Tyrion’s legs were cramping too badly for him to
even contemplate the ascent. He went instead to the iron cage beside the well,
clambered inside, and yanked hard on the bell rope, three quick pulls.
墙南有座粗木横梁搭建的楼梯，深陷在冰层里，牢牢冻住。长长的楼梯蜿蜒曲折，如一记闪电，弯弯曲曲攀上城墙。黑衫弟兄曾向他保证这楼梯远比看起来坚固，但提利昂的脚痛得实在厉害，根本没法独立攀爬。于是他走往井边的铁笼子，爬了进去，然后用力拉了三下尾端系着传唤铃的绳索。
He had to wait
what seemed an eternity, standing there inside the bars with the Wall to his
back. Long enough for Tyrion to begin to wonder why he was doing this. He had
just about decided to forget his sudden whim and go to bed when the cage gave a
jerk and began to ascend.
他就这么靠着长城，站在条条铁栅里，漫无止尽地等待。到后来，提利昂不禁怀疑自己为何自讨苦吃。最后他终于决定忘记这偶发的奇想，打道回府去睡觉时，铁笼却猛地一晃，开始上升。
He moved upward
slowly, by fits and starts at first, then more smoothly. The ground fell away
beneath him, the cage swung, and Tyrion wrapped his hands around the iron bars.
He could feel the cold of the metal even through his gloves. Morrec had a fire
burning in his room, he noted with approval, but the Lord Commander’s tower was
dark. The Old Bear had more sense than he did, it seemed.
他缓缓上升，起初颠簸不已，后来渐趋平稳。地面离提利昂脚底越来越远，铁笼不断摇晃，他紧握铁条，而即使隔着手套都能感觉金属的寒意。他注意到莫里斯已经在房里生起炉火，心中暗自赞许。总司令的塔楼卧室则一片漆黑，看来熊老脑筋比他迟钝多了。
Then he was
above the towers, still inching his way upward. Castle Black lay below him,
etched in moonlight. You could see how stark and empty it was from up here;
windowless keeps, crumbling walls, courtyards choked with broken stone. Farther
off, he could see the lights of Mole’s Town, the little village half a league
south along the kingsroad, and here and there the bright glitter of moonlight
on water where icy streams descended from the mountain heights to cut across
the plains. The rest of the world was a bleak emptiness of windswept hills and
rocky fields spotted with snow.
铁笼高过塔楼，继续向高处缓缓攀升。黑城堡就在他脚下，镂刻于月光中。居高临下，你才发现它那些没有窗户的堡垒，崩塌的围墙，遍布碎石的庭院有多么僵直、多么空洞。远处，他看到南边的国王大道上，距此半里格之遥的鼹鼠小村的灯火，以及此起彼落，自山间倾注而下，贯穿平原的冰冷溪流，水面闪烁，月光映照。除此之外，世界便是一片由饱受冷风摧残的丘陵，嶙峋危岩和缀着残雪的野地构成的无尽荒芜。
Finally a thick
voice behind him said, “Seven hells, it’s the dwarf,” and the cage jerked to a
sudden stop and hung there, swinging slowly back and forth, the ropes creaking.
这时他身后传来一个粗厚的声音，“他妈的，是那个矮子。”接着铁笼一阵猛烈颠簸，瞬间停止不动，悬挂在半空，缓缓地来回摇晃，绳索咯吱作响。
“Bring him in, damn it.” There was a grunt and a loud groaning of
wood as the cage slid sideways and then the Wall was beneath him. Tyrion waited
until the swinging had stopped before he pushed open the cage door and hopped
down onto the ice. A heavy figure in black was leaning on the winch, while a
second held the cage with a gloved hand. Their faces were muffled in woolen
scarves so only their eyes showed, and they were plump with layers of wool and
leather, black on black. “And what will you be wanting, this time of night?”
the one by the winch asked.
“让他进来罢，天杀的。”铁笼开始朝长城平移，木头嘎吱作响，发出痛苦的呻吟。提利昂直等铁笼停止晃动方才打开闸门，跳到结冰的地面。一个体格魁梧的黑衣人正靠在绞盘上，另一个则戴着手套托住铁笼。他们用羊毛围巾裹住脸，所以只看得到眼睛。由于穿了好几层黑羊毛和皮革，看起来相当肥胖。“三更半夜的，你跑来这干啥？”站在绞盘边的人问。
“A last look.”
“来看最后一眼。”
The men
exchanged sour glances. “Look all you want,” the other one said. “Just have a
care you don’t fall off, little man. The Old Bear would have our hides.” A
small wooden shack stood under the great crane, and Tyrion saw the dull glow of
a brazier and felt a brief gust of warmth when the winch men opened the door
and went back inside. And then he was alone.
两人无奈地对视一眼。“小个子，爱怎么看随你。”另一人道，“只要别摔下去就成，不然熊老非把咱俩皮扒了不可。”起重机下有座木造小屋，当那个拉绞盘的人开门进去时，提利昂隐约看到里面传出火盆阴暗的光亮，感到些微的暖意，然后便只剩下他孤零零一个人。
It was bitingly
cold up here, and the wind pulled at his clothes like an insistent lover. The
top of the Wall was wider than the kingsroad often was, so Tyrion had no fear
of falling, although the footing was slicker than he would have liked. The
brothers spread crushed stone across the walkways, but the weight of countless
footsteps would melt the Wall beneath, so the ice would seem to grow around the
gravel, swallowing it, until the path was bare again and it was time to crush
more stone.
冷得刺骨，风像急切的情人般撕扯他的衣服。长城比此地的国王大道还要宽敞，所以提利昂无须担心失足坠落，可地表的确太滑。黑衣弟兄们在通道上铺满了碎石，但长时间的踩踏早已磨平了地面，于是冰渐渐填满砂砾间的缝隙，吞噬了碎石。等到通道被再度磨平，又得重新铺上碎石。
Still, it was
nothing that Tyrion could not manage. He looked off to the east and west, at
the Wall stretching before him, a vast white road with no beginning and no end
and a dark abyss on either side. West, he decided, for no special reason, and
he began to walk that way, following the pathway nearest the north edge, where
the gravel looked freshest.
好在眼前的情况，提利昂还不至于应付不过。他朝东西两边远望，看着长城如一条无始无终的白色大道自眼前延伸而出，两侧则是黑暗深渊。他决定朝西走，也说不出什么原因。于是他靠着北边，顺着看来才刚铺过碎石的通道，提步往那个方向走去。
His bare cheeks
were ruddy with the cold, and his legs complained more loudly with every step,
but Tyrion ignored them. The wind swirled around him, gravel crunched beneath
his boots, while ahead the white ribbon followed the lines of the hills, rising
higher and higher, until it was lost beyond the western horizon. He passed a
massive catapult, as tall as a city wall, its base sunk deep into the Wall. The
throwing arm had been taken off for repairs and then forgotten; it lay there
like a broken toy, half-embedded in the ice.
暴露在外的双颊被冻得通红，双脚也早就在抗议，但他不加理会。狂风在他耳际怒吼，碎石在他脚下嘎吱作响，长城在他前方沿丘陵蜿蜒，有如白色蝴蝶结般渐渐升高，最后消失于西边的地平线。他走过一台高如城墙的庞大投石机，它的底座深深地陷入长城，投掷臂被拆下来维修，却忘了装回去，于是便像个坏掉的玩具般躺在那儿，半掩盖在冰层里。
On the far side
of the catapult, a muffled voice called out a challenge. “Who goes there?
Halt!”
从投石机的彼端传来一声不太清晰的盘问：“是谁？不许动！”
Tyrion stopped.
“If I halt too long I’ll freeze in place, Jon,” he said as a shaggy pale shape
slid toward him silently and sniffed at his furs. “Hello, Ghost.”
提利昂停下来。“琼恩，我要是不动，非冻死在这里不可。”他边说边看到一个毛茸茸的白影悄悄地朝他跑来，凑着他的毛皮衣物嗅个不休。“哈啰，白灵。”
Jon Snow moved
closer. He looked bigger and heavier in his layers of fur and leather, the hood
of his cloak pulled down over his face. “Lannister,” he said, yanking loose the
scarf to uncover his mouth. “This is the last place I would have expected to
see you.” He carried a heavy spear tipped in iron, taller than he was, and a
sword hung at his side in a leather sheath. Across his chest was a gleaming
black warhorn, banded with silver.
琼恩·雪诺朝他走来。他穿了一层又一层的毛皮和皮革，模样更为魁梧高壮，斗篷的兜帽拉下来遮住了脸。“兰尼斯特，”他边说边拉开盖住嘴巴的围巾。“想不到会在这里碰见你。”他带了一支比他人还高的铁头重矛，佩剑装上皮套，悬在腰际。他的胸前则挂着一支发亮的黑色镶银号角。
“This is the last place I would have expected to be seen,” Tyrion
admitted. “I was captured by a whim. If I touch Ghost, will he chew my hand
off?”
“我也想不到在这里竟还会被人发现。”提利昂坦承，“我突然有个念头，如果我摸摸白灵，他会把我的手给咬掉么？”
“Not with me here,” Jon promised.
“如果我在场就不会。”琼恩向他保证。
Tyrion scratched
the white wolf behind the ears. The red eyes watched him impassively. The beast
came up as high as his chest now. Another year, and Tyrion had the gloomy
feeling he’d be looking up at him. “What are you doing up here tonight?” he
asked. “Besides freezing your manhood off ?.?.?.?”
提利昂搔搔白狼的耳背。它用那双红眼睛无动于衷地看着他。这只野兽已经长到他胸口这么高了。再过一年，提利昂阴沉地想，它搞不好会长得比他自己还高。“你今晚在这干啥？”他问，“莫非想把命根子给冻掉……”
“I have drawn night guard,” Jon said. “Again. Ser Alliser has kindly
arranged for the watch commander to take a special interest in me. He seems to
think that if they keep me awake half the night, I’ll fall asleep during
morning drill. So far I have disappointed him.”
“我抽到值夜班的签。”琼恩说，“也不是第一次了。好心的艾里沙爵士要守卫长对我‘多加关照’。他大概以为只要让我半夜无休，我就会在晨训时打瞌睡。但到目前为止我让他失望了。”
Tyrion grinned.
“And has Ghost learned to juggle yet?”
提利昂嘿嘿一笑：“那白灵会变魔术了没？”
“No,” said Jon, smiling, “but Grenn held his own against Halder this
morning, and Pyp is no longer dropping his sword quite so often as he did.”
“还没。”琼恩微笑道，“但葛兰今早上已经可以和霍德一较高下，而且派普也不再像以前那样老是掉剑了。”
“Pyp?”
“派普？”
“Pypar is his real name. The small boy with the large ears. He saw me
working with Grenn and asked for help. Thorne had never even shown him the
proper way to grip a sword.” He turned to look north. “I have a mile of Wall to
guard. Will you walk with me?”
“他本名是派普尔，就是那个生了双招风耳的矮个男生。他看到我和葛兰在练习，便跑过来请我也教教他。索恩连握剑的正确姿势都没教他。”他转身看看北方。“我有一里的长城要巡逻，一起走走？”
“If you walk slowly,” Tyrion said.
“你走慢点就可以。”提利昂道。
“The watch commander tells me I must walk, to keep my blood from
freezing, but he never said how fast.”
“守卫长只交代我必须一直走动，血液才不会冻住，倒没说走多快。”
They walked,
with Ghost pacing along beside Jon like a white shadow. “I leave on the
morrow,” Tyrion said.
于是他们结伴同行，白灵则像道白影般跟在琼恩身旁。“我明天一早离开。”提利昂道。
“I know.” Jon sounded strangely sad.
“我知道。”琼恩的语气听来怪异地感伤。
“I plan to stop at Winterfell on the way south. If there is any
message that you would like me to deliver?.?.?.?”
“我打算在临冬城稍事停留。所以你若有什么口信要我转达……”
“Tell Robb that I’m going to command the Night’s Watch and keep him
safe, so he might as well take up needlework with the girls and have Mikken
melt down his sword for horseshoes.”
“跟罗柏说我以后会当上守夜人的司令官，保护他的安全，所以他不妨跟女孩子们学学针线，然后叫密肯把他的佩剑熔掉，拿去做马蹄铁吧。”
“Your brother is bigger than me,” Tyrion said with a laugh. “I
decline to deliver any message that might get me killed.”
“你兄弟块头大我那么多，”提利昂笑道，“我拒绝传达可能会惹来杀身之祸的口信。”
“Rickon will ask when I’m coming home. Try to explain where I’ve
gone, if you can. Tell him he can have all my things while I’m away, he’ll like
that.”
“瑞肯一定会问你我何时才能回家。想办法跟他解释我去了什么地方。告诉他我不在的时候，我所有的东西都归他管，他听了一定会很高兴的。”
People seemed to
be asking a great deal of him today, Tyrion Lannister thought. “You could put
all this in a letter, you know.”
今天有事相求的人还真多，提利昂·兰尼斯特心想。“其实，你可以写封家信。”
“Rickon can’t read yet. Bran?.?.?.?” He stopped suddenly. “I don’t
know what message to send to Bran. Help him, Tyrion.”
“瑞肯还不识字。至于布兰嘛……”他突然停下来。“我不知该捎什么口信给他。提利昂，帮帮他罢。”
“What help could I give him? I am no maester, to ease his pain. I
have no spells to give him back his legs.”
“我能帮上什么？我不是学士，没法治疗他的病痛。我也没有魔咒可以让他双腿复原。”
“You gave me help when I needed it,” Jon Snow said.
“你在我最需要的时候帮了我一把。”琼恩·雪诺道。
“I gave you nothing,” Tyrion said. “Words.”
“我什么也没给你，”提利昂说，“只是几句废话。”
“Then give your words to Bran too.”
“那就对布兰也讲几句罢。”
“You’re asking a lame man to teach a cripple how to dance,” Tyrion
said. “However sincere the lesson, the result is likely to be grotesque. Still,
I know what it is to love a brother, Lord Snow. I will give Bran whatever small
help is in my power.”
“你这分明是叫瘸子教残废跳舞，”提利昂说，“无论教得再好，只会惨不忍睹。但我也懂得手足之情，雪诺大人。我会尽我所能帮助布兰。”
“Thank you, my lord of Lannister.” He pulled off his glove and
offered his bare hand. “Friend.”
“谢谢你，兰尼斯特大人。”他脱下手套，伸出手，“好朋友。”
Tyrion found
himself oddly touched. “Most of my kin are bastards,” he said with a wry smile,
“but you’re the first I’ve had to friend.” He pulled a glove off with his teeth
and clasped Snow by the hand, flesh against flesh. The boy’s grip was firm and
strong.
提利昂发现自己竟意外地大受感动。“我的亲戚多半是些王八蛋，”他咧嘴笑道，“而你是第一个跟我做朋友的人。”他用牙齿咬住手套脱下来，然后握住雪诺的手，肉贴着肉。男孩握得坚定而有力。
When he had
donned his glove again, Jon Snow turned abruptly and walked to the low, icy
northern parapet. Beyond him the Wall fell away sharply; beyond him there was
only the darkness and the wild. Tyrion followed him, and side by side they
stood upon the edge of the world.
等琼恩·雪诺重新戴上手套，他突然转身走到北面冰冷的低矮城垛边。城墙以外高度骤降，只剩一片暗黝寒荒。提利昂跟了过去，两人便这么肩并肩站在世界的尽头。
The Night’s
Watch permitted the forest to come no closer than half a mile of the north face
of the Wall. The thickets of ironwood and sentinel and oak that had once grown
there had been harvested centuries ago, to create a broad swath of open ground
through which no enemy could hope to pass unseen. Tyrion had heard that
elsewhere along the Wall, between the three fortresses, the wildwood had come
creeping back over the decades, that there were places where grey-green
sentinels and pale white weirwoods had taken root in the shadow of the Wall
itself, but Castle Black had a prodigious appetite for firewood, and here the
forest was still kept at bay by the axes of the black brothers.
守夜人军团绝不让森林延伸到长城以北半里之内，原本生在这范围内的铁树、哨兵树和橡树，早在几百年前便被砍伐干净，辟出一块开阔的空地，如此一来，任何敌人都不可能在不被发现的情况下前来进犯。但提利昂听说，这几十年来，野生的树林已经在三座堡垒之间的某些要塞处重新长了回来，灰绿的哨兵树和惨白的鱼梁木已经根深蒂固地落脚于城墙阴影之下。好在黑城堡柴火用量惊人，黑衫弟兄们才得以用斧头把树林排拒在外。
It was never
far, though. From up here Tyrion could see it, the dark trees looming beyond
the stretch of open ground, like a second wall built parallel to the first, a
wall of night. Few axes had ever swung in that black wood, where even the
moonlight could not penetrate the ancient tangle of root and thorn and grasping
limb. Out there the trees grew huge, and the rangers said they seemed to brood
and knew not men. It was small wonder the Night’s Watch named it the haunted
forest.
虽然如此，森林却也离他们不远。站在这里，提利昂可以看到阴暗的树木笼罩着空地的边缘，如同又一道与城墙平行的暗夜长城。即便月光，也无法穿透那亘古的盘根错节，所以鲜少有人前去伐木。游骑兵说那里的树长得奇高无比，看起来像在沉思冥想，厌恶活人。难怪守夜人称其为鬼影森林。
As he stood
there and looked at all that darkness with no fires burning anywhere, with the
wind blowing and the cold like a spear in his guts, Tyrion Lannister felt as
though he could almost believe the talk of the Others, the enemy in the night.
His jokes of grumkins and snarks no longer seemed quite so droll.
提利昂站着远望，四周寂静黑暗，全无灯火光影，劲风疾袭，冷如刀割。他突然觉得自己仿佛开始相信关于人类公敌、寒夜异鬼的种种传说，他那些古灵精怪的玩笑也不再轻薄。
“My uncle is out there,” Jon Snow said softly, leaning on his spear
as he stared off into the darkness. “The first night they sent me up here, I
thought, Uncle Benjen will ride back tonight, and I’ll see him first and blow
the horn. He never came, though. Not that night and not any night.”
“我叔叔就在那儿。”琼恩·雪诺拄着长矛，望向无尽黑暗，轻声道。“他们派我上来的第一个晚上，我以为班扬叔叔当晚便会回来，我会第一个见着他，吹响报讯的号角。只是他当夜没有回来，一直没有，而我夜夜都在等他。”
“Give him time,” Tyrion said.
“多给他点时间罢。”提利昂说。
Far off to the
north, a wolf began to howl. Another voice picked up the call, then another.
Ghost cocked his head and listened. “If he doesn’t come back,” Jon Snow
promised, “Ghost and I will go find him.” He put his hand on the direwolf’s
head.
遥遥北疆传来一声狼嚎，跟着一只接一只的狼加入长吼。白灵侧头倾听。“如果他不回来，”琼恩·雪诺向他保证。“我就和白灵一起去找他。”他把手放在冰原狼的头上。
“I believe you,” Tyrion said, but what he thought was, And who will go find you? He
shivered.
“我相信你。”提利昂说，然而他心里想的却是：在那之后，派谁去找你呢？他不禁打了个冷颤。
