BRAN
53 布兰
The Karstarks came in on a cold windy morning, bringing three hundred horsemen and near two thousand foot from their castle at Karhold. The steel points of their pikes winked in the pale sunlight as the column approached. A man went before them, pounding out a slow, deep-throated marching rhythm on a drum that was bigger than he was, boom, boom, boom.
在一个北风飕飕的寒冷清晨，卡史塔克家族从卡霍城带着三百骑兵和近两千步兵抵达了临冬城。兵士的枪尖在苍白的目光中眨着眼睛。有个士卒走在队伍前方，敲着一个比他人还大的鼓，“咚，咚，咚”，击打出缓慢而沉厚的行军节奏。
Bran watched them come from a guard turret atop the outer wall, peering through Maester Luwin’s bronze far-eye while perched on Hodor’s shoulders. Lord Rickard himself led them, his sons Harrion and Eddard and Torrhen riding beside him beneath night-black banners emblazoned with the white sunburst of their House. Old Nan said they had Stark blood in them, going back hundreds of years, but they did not look like Starks to Bran. They were big men, and fierce, faces covered with thick beards, hair worn loose past the shoulders. Their cloaks were made of skins, the pelts of bear and seal and wolf.
布兰待在外城墙上一座守卫塔里，坐在阿多肩头，正用鲁温学士的青铜望远镜观察渐渐走近的军队。瑞卡德伯爵亲自领军，他的儿子哈利昂、艾德和托伦骑马与之并肩而行，他们头顶飞扬着以漆黑夜色为底、白色日芒为徽的旗帜。老奶妈说他们体内流有史塔克族人的血液，可以追溯到数百年前，然而在布兰看来，这些人实在不像史塔克家后代，他们个个生得人高马大，神情剽悍，脸上长着粗粗的胡子，发长过肩，披风则是用熊、海豹和狼的皮做成。
They were the last, he knew. The other lords were already here, with their hosts. Bran yearned to ride out among them, to see the winter houses full to bursting, the jostling crowds in the market square every morning, the streets rutted and torn by wheel and hoof. But Robb had forbidden him to leave the castle. “We have no men to spare to guard you,” his brother had explained.
他知道，这是最后一批军队。其他领主已先后率兵抵达。布兰满心期盼能和他们一道骑马出城，去看看避冬市镇的屋宇人满为患、挤得水泄不通的模样；看看每天早上市集广场上的摩肩接踵；看看巷道印满车辙马蹄的景况。可罗柏不准他离开城堡。“我们没有多余的人手保护你。”哥哥向他解释。
“I’ll take Summer,” Bran argued.
“我会带夏天一起去啊。”布兰辩解。
“Don’t act the boy with me, Bran,” Robb said. “You know better than that. Only two days ago one of Lord Bolton’s men knifed one of Lord Cerwyn’s at the Smoking Log. Our lady mother would skin me for a pelt if I let you put yourself at risk.” He was using the voice of Robb the Lord when he said it; Bran knew that meant there was no appeal.
“布兰，别跟我孩子气，”罗柏说，“你自己很清楚。前两天波顿大人的手下才在烟柴酒馆杀了赛文伯爵一位部属。我若是让你身处险境，母亲大人不把我皮剥了才怪。”说这话的时候，他用的是“罗柏城主”的语气，布兰知道没有回旋余地。
It was because of what had happened in the wolfswood, he knew. The memory still gave him bad dreams. He had been as helpless as a baby, no more able to defend himself than Rickon would have been. Less, even?.?.?.?Rickon would have kicked them, at the least. It shamed him. He was only a few years younger than Robb; if his brother was almost a man grown, so was he. He should have been able to protect himself.
其实他心里明白，这一定是因为之前狼林里那件事。如今回想起来，他依然会作噩梦。他像个婴儿一般无助，换做小瑞肯，大概也不会比他更无力。说不定他还比不上瑞肯……瑞肯至少能踢他们。为此他深感羞耻。他只比罗柏小几岁；假如哥哥已近成年，那他也相去不远。照说他应该能保卫自己才对。
A year ago, before, he would have visited the town even if it meant climbing over the walls by himself. In those days he could run down stairs, get on and off his pony by himself, and wield a wooden sword good enough to knock Prince Tommen in the dirt. Now he could only watch, peering out through Maester Luwin’s lens tube. The maester had taught him all the banners: the mailed fist of the Glovers, silver on scarlet; Lady Mormont’s black bear; the hideous flayed man that went before Roose Bolton of the Dreadfort; a bull moose for the Hornwoods; a battle-axe for the Cerwyns; three sentinel trees for the Tallharts; and the fearsome sigil of House Umber, a roaring giant in shattered chains.
若是一年前，在事情发生以前，就算必须爬墙，他也会去探访市镇。那些日子里他可以奔跑楼梯，不假他人之力上下小马，还可以挥舞木剑，将托曼王子打倒在地。如今他只有拿鲁温师傅的透镜管观望的份。老学士把所有的旗帜家徽都教给了他：葛洛佛家族红底银色的钢甲拳套旗，莫尔蒙伯爵夫人的大黑熊旗，飞扬于恐怖堡领主卢斯·波顿队伍前方的剥皮人旗，霍伍德家族的驼鹿旗，赛文家族的战斧旗，陶哈家族的参天三哨兵树旗，以及安伯家族那吓人的碎链咆哮巨人旗。
And soon enough he learned the faces too, when the lords and their sons and knights retainer came to Winterfell to feast. Even the Great Hall was not large enough to seat all of them at once, so Robb hosted each of the principal bannermen in turn. Bran was always given the place of honor at his brother’s right hand. Some of the lords bannermen gave him queer hard stares as he sat there, as if they wondered by what right a green boy should be placed above them, and him a cripple too.
短短时日里，北境诸侯们纷纷带着儿子、骑士和部属前来临冬城聚餐，他把他们的容貌也都记住了。即便城堡大厅，也无法同时容纳所有人，于是罗柏依次分开宴请主要封臣。布兰通常坐在哥哥右边的荣誉高位，可总有些领主眼神怪异地看着他，仿佛在质疑这么个乳臭未干的小孩儿有何资格坐他们上位，更何况他还是个残废。
“How many is it now?” Bran asked Maester Luwin as Lord Karstark and his sons rode through the gates in the outer wall.
“之前到了多少人？”卡史塔克伯爵和他的儿子们骑马穿过外墙城门时，布兰问鲁温学士。
“Twelve thousand men, or near enough as makes no matter.”
“约莫一万两千人吧。”
“How many knights?”
“有多少骑士呢？”
“Few enough,” the maester said with a touch of impatience. “To be a knight, you must stand your vigil in a sept, and be anointed with the seven oils to consecrate your vows. In the north, only a few of the great houses worship the Seven. The rest honor the old gods, and name no knights?.?.?.?but those lords and their sons and sworn swords are no less fierce or loyal or honorable. A man’s worth is not marked by a ser before his name. As I have told you a hundred times before.”
“非常少。”老师傅话中有些不耐烦，“要成为骑士，你必须先在圣堂里守夜，接受修士用七种圣油的涂抹，宣读誓言后方能得到祝福。在我们北方，多数人信奉旧神，少有贵族归化七神，所以并不册封骑士……然而这些领主和他们的儿子、部下不论武艺、忠诚还是荣誉感，可一点也不输他人。人的价值并非以爵士这个头衔来衡量，我已经告诉过你几百遍了。”
“Still,” said Bran, “how many knights?”
“可是，”布兰说，“到底有几个骑士嘛？”
Maester Luwin sighed. “Three hundred, perhaps four?.?.?.?among three thousand armored lances who are not knights.”
鲁温学士叹了口气。“三四百罢……但骑马配枪的普通战士总共约有三千。”
“Lord Karstark is the last,” Bran said thoughtfully. “Robb will feast him tonight.”
“卡史塔克大人是最后来的，”布兰若有所思地说，“罗柏今晚会宴请他。”
“No doubt he will.”
“毫无疑问。”
“How long before?.?.?.?before they go?”
“还有多久……他们才会出发？”
“He must march soon, or not at all,” Maester Luwin said. “The winter town is full to bursting, and this army of his will eat the countryside clean if it camps here much longer. Others are waiting to join him all along the kingsroad, barrow knights and crannogmen and the Lords Manderly and Flint. The fighting has begun in the riverlands, and your brother has many leagues to go.”
“他得尽快动身，否则就走不了了。”鲁温师傅道，“避冬市镇里已经人满为患，而这支军队若是再待久一点，会把附近地区的存粮吃得一干二净。更何况国王大道沿途还有荒冢地的骑士，泽地人，曼德勒伯爵和佛林特伯爵等着加入呢。战火已在三河流域蔓延开来，你哥哥有很长一段路要走。”
“I know.” Bran felt as miserable as he sounded. He handed the bronze tube back to the maester, and noticed how thin Luwin’s hair had grown on top. He could see the pink of scalp showing through. It felt queer to look down on him this way, when he’d spent his whole life looking up at him, but when you sat on Hodor’s back you looked down on everyone. “I don’t want to watch anymore. Hodor, take me back to the keep.”
“我知道。”布兰说。他把青铜镜管还给老学士，一边注意到鲁温脑顶的头发愈发稀少，以至于粉红的头皮若隐若现。这样从上俯视他感觉有些古怪，自己向来都是抬头仰望他的。话说回来，一旦坐上阿多的肩头，无论是看谁都成了俯视。“我不想看了。阿多，带我回城去。”
“Hodor,” said Hodor.
“阿多。”阿多说。
Maester Luwin tucked the tube up his sleeve. “Bran, your lord brother will not have time to see you now. He must greet Lord Karstark and his sons and make them welcome.”
鲁温师傅把镜管藏进袖子。“布兰，你哥哥现在没空见你，他得去迎接卡史塔克大人父子一行。”
“I won’t trouble Robb. I want to visit the godswood.” He put his hand on Hodor’s shoulder. “Hodor.”
“我不会打扰罗柏，我要去神木林。”他把手放在阿多的肩上。“阿多。”
A series of chisel-cut handholds made a ladder in the granite of the tower’s inner wall. Hodor hummed tunelessly as he went down hand under hand, Bran bouncing against his back in the wicker seat that Maester Luwin had fashioned for him. Luwin had gotten the idea from the baskets the women used to carry firewood on their backs; after that it had been a simple matter of cutting legholes and attaching some new straps to spread Bran’s weight more evenly. It was not as good as riding Dancer, but there were places Dancer could not go, and this did not shame Bran the way it did when Hodor carried him in his arms like a baby. Hodor seemed to like it too, though with Hodor it was hard to tell. The only tricky part was doors. Sometimes Hodor forgot that he had Bran on his back, and that could be painful when he went through a door.
塔楼内部的大理石墙上，有一连串凿出的把手，可作攀爬的楼梯。阿多一边哼着不成调的小曲，一边慢慢地爬下去。布兰坐在他背后的柳条篮子里，晃荡不停。篮子是鲁温学士特别制作的，他从妇女捡拾柴火所用的背篮中得到灵感，在此基础上割出两个洞让脚伸出，多加几条皮带以分散布兰的重量，完成了这个作品。这当然比不上骑乘小舞的感觉，但小舞有很多地方没法去，况且比起被阿多像个婴儿似的抱来抱去，这样起码不会让布兰觉得那么丢脸。阿多似乎也挺喜欢这个设计，虽然阿多到底在想些什么谁也说不准。惟一麻烦的是进出门，阿多有时会忘记背上还有个小布兰，这种进门方式可真让他疼痛难忘。
For near a fortnight there had been so many comings and goings that Robb ordered both portcullises kept up and the drawbridge down between them, even in the dead of night. A long column of armored lancers was crossing the moat between the walls when Bran emerged from the tower; Karstark men, following their lords into the castle. They wore black iron halfhelms and black woolen cloaks patterned with the white sunburst. Hodor trotted along beside them, smiling to himself, his boots thudding against the wood of the drawbridge. The riders gave them queer looks as they went by, and once Bran heard someone guffaw. He refused to let it trouble him. “Men will look at you,” Maester Luwin had warned him the first time they had strapped the wicker basket around Hodor’s chest. “They will look, and they will talk, and some will mock you.” Let them mock, Bran thought. No one mocked him in his bedchamber, but he would not live his life in bed.
近两周来，由于人马进出频繁，罗柏下令将内外城墙的闸门全都升起，两者之间的吊桥也放下，即使入夜也不例外。布兰从守卫塔出来时，一列长长的重装枪骑兵纵队正穿越护城河，他们是卡史塔克家的部队，正跟随主子进入城堡。这群人头戴黑色的半罩铁盔，身披有着白色日芒图案的黑羊毛披风。阿多快步走在旁边，自顾自地笑，靴子咚咚咚踩着木头吊桥。骑兵神情怪异地看着他们经过，布兰还听见有人粗声大笑，但他拒绝自己心绪被扰乱。“别人会看着你，”当他们头一次把柳条篮绑上阿多后背时，鲁温师傅就警告过他：“他们不但会看，会议论纷纷，有些人还会嘲笑你。”让他们嘲笑去罢，布兰心想。如果他待在卧房，就没有人能嘲笑，但他不愿一辈子都在床上度过。
As they passed beneath the gatehouse portcullis, Bran put two fingers into his mouth and whistled. Summer came loping across the yard. Suddenly the Karstark lancers were fighting for control, as their horses rolled their eyes and whickered in dismay. One stallion reared, screaming, his rider cursing and hanging on desperately. The scent of the direwolves sent horses into a frenzy of fear if they were not accustomed to it, but they’d quiet soon enough once Summer was gone. “The godswood,” Bran reminded Hodor.
从闸门下经过时，布兰将两根手指伸进口中，吹起口哨。夏天立刻从广场彼端轻步跑来。刹时，马儿纷纷翻起白眼，惊恐地嘶声呜叫，卡史塔克家的枪骑兵不得不努力维持平衡。有一匹战马尖叫着抬起前蹄，骑在上面的武士高声咒骂，好容易才没摔下去。非经天长日久的习惯，马匹通常一闻到冰原狼的味道就会害怕得发狂，直等夏天走远它们才没事。“去神木林。”布兰提醒阿多。
Even Winterfell itself was crowded. The yard rang to the sound of sword and axe, the rumble of wagons, and the barking of dogs. The armory doors were open, and Bran glimpsed Mikken at his forge, his hammer ringing as sweat dripped off his bare chest. Bran had never seen as many strangers in all his years, not even when King Robert had come to visit Father.
他想不到临冬城也有人满为患的时候。场子里处处是刀斧碰撞、马车辘辘和猎狗吠叫。兵器库门大敞，布兰瞥见密肯站在锻炉边，不停敲打铁锤，赤裸的胸膛上汗水淋漓。布兰这辈子从没见过这么多陌生人，即便是劳勃国王来拜访父亲时也比不上。
He tried not to flinch as Hodor ducked through a low door. They walked down a long dim hallway, Summer padding easily beside them. The wolf glanced up from time to time, eyes smoldering like liquid gold. Bran would have liked to touch him, but he was riding too high for his hand to reach.
阿多低身穿过一道矮门，布兰努力克制住自己不要畏缩。他们沿着一条漫长而阴暗的走廊前进，夏天脚步轻快地走在身边，不时抬眼看他，眼睛好似两团熊熊燃烧的液态黄金。布兰好想摸摸它，可他离地太远，手够不到。
The godswood was an island of peace in the sea of chaos that Winterfell had become. Hodor made his way through the dense stands of oak and ironwood and sentinels, to the still pool beside the heart tree. He stopped under the gnarled limbs of the weirwood, humming. Bran reached up over his head and pulled himself out of his seat, drawing the dead weight of his legs up through the holes in the wicker basket. He hung for a moment, dangling, the dark red leaves brushing against his face, until Hodor lifted him and lowered him to the smooth stone beside the water. “I want to be by myself for a while,” he said. “You go soak. Go to the pools.”
这段日子以来，若说临冬城成了一片混乱汪洋，那神木林则是其中的宁静之岛。阿多穿过繁密的橡树、铁树和哨兵树，来到心树下静止无波的水潭边。他停在盘根错节的鱼梁木枝干底，口中哼着歌。布兰伸手抓住头顶的树枝，把自己拉出篮子，也将他那双软弱无力的脚自柳篮的两个洞里拉出来。他在那儿挂了一会儿，晃了几下，任暗红的树叶拂过脸庞，然后阿多接住他，把他放在池边平坦的大石上。“我想独处一下，”他说，“你去洗洗吧，去温泉。”
“Hodor.” Hodor stomped through the trees and vanished. Across the godswood, beneath the windows of the Guest House, an underground hot spring fed three small ponds. Steam rose from the water day and night, and the wall that loomed above was thick with moss. Hodor hated cold water, and would fight like a treed wildcat when threatened with soap, but he would happily immerse himself in the hottest pool and sit for hours, giving a loud burp to echo the spring whenever a bubble rose from the murky green depths to break upon the surface.
“阿多！”阿多踩着“咚咚”大步，消失在树丛中。在神木林的另一边，客房窗户的正下方，有一座天然的地底温泉，注满了三个小池。池水日夜热气蒸腾，池边高墙爬满青苔。阿多痛恨冷水，若是叫他用肥皂，更会像只被踩到尾巴的山猫般拼死抵抗，但要换成温泉，即便最滚烫的池子他也不在乎，而且一泡动辄几个小时。每当浑浊的绿水面冒出气泡，他就大声打嗝，好像是在相互应和。
Summer lapped at the water and settled down at Bran’s side. He rubbed the wolf under the jaw, and for a moment boy and beast both felt at peace. Bran had always liked the godswood, even before, but of late he found himself drawn to it more and more. Even the heart tree no longer scared him the way it used to. The deep red eyes carved into the pale trunk still watched him, yet somehow he took comfort from that now. The gods were looking over him, he told himself; the old gods, gods of the Starks and the First Men and the children of the forest, his father’s gods. He felt safe in their sight, and the deep silence of the trees helped him think. Bran had been thinking a lot since his fall; thinking, and dreaming, and talking with the gods.
夏天舔舔池水，在布兰身边坐下。他挠挠狼的下巴，接下来的短短时间，小男孩和冰原狼都觉得宁静而安详。布兰向来很喜欢神木林，在意外发生前就很喜欢，而近来他发现自己越来越常来这里。即便心树，也不再像以前那么令他害怕。刻在惨白树干上的那对深邃红眼依旧凝视着他，然而他却能从中寻得慰藉。这是诸神在看顾着他，他这么告诉自己；这是古老的诸神，属于史塔克家族、先民和森林之子的神，是父亲所信仰的神。在他们的注视下，他觉得很有安全感，而树林里深沉的寂静更有助于他理清思绪。自坠楼以来，布兰经常陷入沉思：思索，作梦，和诸神对话。
“Please make it so Robb won’t go away,” he prayed softly. He moved his hand through the cold water, sending ripples across the pool. “Please make him stay. Or if he has to go, bring him home safe, with Mother and Father and the girls. And make it?.?.?.?make it so Rickon understands.”
“请不要让罗柏离开，”他轻声祷告，伸手拨弄冰冷的池水，池面激起涟漪。“请让他留下来吧。如果他真的非走不可，就让他平安归来，和父亲母亲以及姐姐们一起回家。还有，请让……请让瑞肯懂事。”
His baby brother had been wild as a winter storm since he learned Robb was riding off to war, weeping and angry by turns. He’d refused to eat, cried and screamed for most of a night, even punched Old Nan when she tried to sing him to sleep, and the next day he’d vanished. Robb had set half the castle searching for him, and when at last they’d found him down in the crypts, Rickon had slashed at them with a rusted iron sword he’d snatched from a dead king’s hand, and Shaggydog had come slavering out of the darkness like a green-eyed demon. The wolf was near as wild as Rickon; he’d bitten Gage on the arm and torn a chunk of flesh from Mikken’s thigh. It had taken Robb himself and Grey Wind to bring him to bay. Farlen had the black wolf chained up in the kennels now, and Rickon cried all the more for being without him.
得知罗柏即将率兵出征的那一天，他的小弟弟便像冬天的暴风雪一样发了狂，一会儿嚎啕大哭，一会儿又大发脾气。他不肯吃饭，整晚哭闹尖叫，连给他唱摇篮曲的老奶妈，他也拳头相向，第二天更是跑得没了踪影。罗柏派出城里大半的人手去找他，最后才发现他躲在地下墓窖，还从某个死去国王的雕像手中抓了把生锈铁剑，朝人们又挥又砍，毛毛狗也流着口水从暗处冲出挑衅，活像个绿眼睛的恶魔。那只狼差不多跟瑞肯一样狂乱；它不仅咬伤盖奇的手，还撕掉密肯一块大腿肉。最后是罗柏带着灰风亲自出马，才把他们制服。现在法兰把黑狼锁在狗舍里，瑞肯没了狼，哭得更厉害了。
Maester Luwin counseled Robb to remain at Winterfell, and Bran pleaded with him too, for his own sake as much as Rickon’s, but his brother only shook his head stubbornly and said, “I don’t want to go. I have to.”
鲁温师傅建议罗柏留在临冬城，布兰也向他哀求过，不光为了自己，更是为了瑞肯。但哥哥固执地摇摇头：“我并不想走，但我非走不可。”
It was only half a lie. Someone had to go, to hold the Neck and help the Tullys against the Lannisters, Bran could understand that, but it did not have to be Robb. His brother might have given the command to Hal Mollen or Theon Greyjoy, or to one of his lords bannermen. Maester Luwin urged him to do just that, but Robb would not hear of it. “My lord father would never have sent men off to die while he huddled like a craven behind the walls of Winterfell,” he said, all Robb the Lord.
这并非全然谎话。总得有人去防守颈泽，协助徒利家族对付兰尼斯特，这点布兰可以理解，但不一定非要罗柏出马啊。哥哥大可把指挥权交给哈尔·莫兰或席恩·葛雷乔伊，甚或他手下的封臣。鲁温学士也劝他这么做，可罗柏不肯听。“父亲大人绝不会派别人去送死，自己却像个胆小鬼似的躲在临冬城的墙垒之后。”他这么说，完全是罗柏城主的口气。
Robb seemed half a stranger to Bran now, transformed, a lord in truth, though he had not yet seen his sixteenth name day. Even their father’s bannermen seemed to sense it. Many tried to test him, each in his own way. Roose Bolton and Robett Glover both demanded the honor of battle command, the first brusquely, the second with a smile and a jest. Stout, grey-haired Maege Mormont, dressed in mail like a man, told Robb bluntly that he was young enough to be her grandson, and had no business giving her commands ?.?.?.?but as it happened, she had a granddaughter she would be willing to have him marry. Soft-spoken Lord Cerwyn had actually brought his daughter with him, a plump, homely maid of thirty years who sat at her father’s left hand and never lifted her eyes from her plate. Jovial Lord Hornwood had no daughters, but he did bring gifts, a horse one day, a haunch of venison the next, a silver-chased hunting horn the day after, and he asked nothing in return?.?.?.?nothing but a certain holdfast taken from his grandfather, and hunting rights north of a certain ridge, and leave to dam the White Knife, if it please the lord.
对布兰来说，如今的罗柏活像半个陌生人，仿佛真正变成了一方之主，虽然他还不到十六岁。父亲的封臣们注意到他的状况，许多人试图用自己的方式来考验他：卢斯·波顿口气莽撞地要求让他领军；罗贝特·葛洛佛虽是说说笑笑，但有着相同的目的；体格粗壮，头发灰白，像男人全身着盔甲的梅姬·莫尔蒙毫不客气地说罗柏的年纪足以当她孙子，没资格对她颐指气使……不过呢，她倒刚巧有个孙女儿可以嫁给他；讲话轻声细语的赛文伯爵直接把女儿给带来了，她的相貌平庸，胖嘟嘟的，年约三十，坐在她父亲左手，自始至终没将视线从餐盘里抬起过；友善的霍伍德伯爵没有女儿，但他带了很多礼物，今天送匹马，明天送一大块鹿肉，隔天又送一个漂亮的银边猎号，而且完全不要回报……除了希求从他祖父手中夺走的一小块地，某个山脊北部的狩猎权，以及在白刃河修筑水坝的权利等等。当然，如果城主大人高兴的话。
Robb answered each of them with cool courtesy, much as Father might have, and somehow he bent them to his will.
罗柏冷静而有礼貌地一一应答，渐渐收服了他们的心，今天若换做父亲，大概也不过如此吧。
And when Lord Umber, who was called the Greatjon by his men and stood as tall as Hodor and twice as wide, threatened to take his forces home if he was placed behind the Hornwoods or the Cerwyns in the order of march, Robb told him he was welcome to do so. “And when we are done with the Lannisters,” he promised, scratching Grey Wind behind the ear, “we will march back north, root you out of your keep, and hang you for an oathbreaker.” Cursing, the Greatjon flung a flagon of ale into the fire and bellowed that Robb was so green he must piss grass. When Hallis Mollen moved to restrain him, he knocked him to the floor, kicked over a table, and unsheathed the biggest, ugliest greatsword that Bran had ever seen. All along the benches, his sons and brothers and sworn swords leapt to their feet, grabbing for their steel.
而当那个人称“大琼恩”，身形和阿多一样高，却足足壮他两倍的安柏伯爵出言不逊，声称假如要他走在霍伍德或赛文家部队后面，他就立刻班师回家时，罗柏说欢迎他这么做。“等收拾兰尼斯特之后，”他向对方保证，一边搔着灰风的耳背。“我们会立刻回师北方，把你从你家城堡里抓出来，当成背誓者吊死。”大琼恩听了破口大骂，将一罐麦酒丢进火里，他吹胡子瞪眼地说罗柏不过是个青涩的毛头小鬼，八成连尿都是草绿色的。哈里斯·莫兰上前劝阻，却被他推倒在地，接着他踢翻桌子，拔出一把布兰所知最大最丑的巨剑。他坐在两边长凳上的儿子、兄弟和部下们也纷纷一跃起身，伸手握住武器。
Yet Robb only said a quiet word, and in a snarl and the blink of an eye Lord Umber was on his back, his sword spinning on the floor three feet away and his hand dripping blood where Grey Wind had bitten off two fingers. “My lord father taught me that it was death to bare steel against your liege lord,” Robb said, “but doubtless you only meant to cut my meat.” Bran’s bowels went to water as the Greatjon struggled to rise, sucking at the red stumps of fingers?.?.?.?but then, astonishingly, the huge man laughed. “Your meat,” he roared, “is bloody tough.”
然而罗柏不过轻轻说了一个字，只听灰风一声怒吼，立时便咬掉安柏伯爵两根手指，把他摔得四脚朝天，剑飞到三尺之外，手上鲜血淋漓。“家父曾经教导我，在宣誓效忠的领主面前拔剑是惟一死罪。”罗柏说，“但我相信您只是想帮我切肉罢了。”布兰看着大琼恩挣扎起身，吸吮那血红一片的断指，五脏六腑绞成一团……出人意料，接着这大个子竟然笑了。“你的肉，”他大吼，“还真他妈的硬！”
And somehow after that the Greatjon became Robb’s right hand, his staunchest champion, loudly telling all and sundry that the boy lord was a Stark after all, and they’d damn well better bend their knees if they didn’t fancy having them chewed off.
不知为什么，从那之后，大琼恩便成了罗柏的左右手和最坚定的拥护者，到处扯开嗓门对人说，别看这位新城主年纪小，他可是个货真价实的史塔克传人，你们都他妈的赶紧乖乖下跪，不然瞧他不把你膝盖剁掉。
Yet that very night, his brother came to Bran’s bedchamber pale and shaken, after the fires had burned low in the Great Hall. “I thought he was going to kill me,” Robb confessed. “Did you see the way he threw down Hal, like he was no bigger than Rickon? Gods, I was so scared. And the Greatjon’s not the worst of them, only the loudest. Lord Roose never says a word, he only looks at me, and all I can think of is that room they have in the Dreadfort, where the Boltons hang the skins of their enemies.”
然而当天夜里，大厅的炉火渐熄之后，哥哥却一脸苍白地来到布兰卧房，浑身发抖。“我以为他会把我给杀了，”罗柏坦承，“你看他推倒哈尔的样子吗？好像当他是瑞肯！诸神在上，真是吓死我了。大琼恩还不是最麻烦的，他只是嗓门最大而已。卢斯大人他一句话也不说，就这么看着我，结果我满脑子想的都是他恐怖堡里那个房间，听说波顿家族的人把敌人的皮剥下来挂在那儿。”
“That’s just one of Old Nan’s stories,” Bran said. A note of doubt crept into his voice. “Isn’t it?”
“那只是老奶妈的故事，”布兰说，一丝怀疑却爬进了他的嗓音。“对吧？”
“I don’t know.” He gave a weary shake of his head. “Lord Cerwyn means to take his daughter south with us. To cook for him, he says. Theon is certain I’ll find the girl in my bedroll one night. I wish?.?.?.?I wish Father was here?.?.?.?”
“我不知道。”哥哥虚弱地摇摇头。“赛文大人打算带他女儿一道南下，说要为他煮饭。可席恩却肯定，某天夜里我一定会发现这女孩躺进我的睡铺。我好希望……我好希望父亲也在……”
That was the one thing they could agree on, Bran and Rickon and Robb the Lord; they all wished Father was here. But Lord Eddard was a thousand leagues away, a captive in some dungeon, a hunted fugitive running for his life, or even dead. No one seemed to know for certain; every traveler told a different tale, each more terrifying than the last. The heads of Father’s guardsmen were rotting on the walls of the Red Keep, impaled on spikes. King Robert was dead at Father’s hands. The Baratheons had laid siege to King’s Landing. Lord Eddard had fled south with the king’s wicked brother Renly. Arya and Sansa had been murdered by the Hound. Mother had killed Tyrion the Imp and hung his body from the walls of Riverrun. Lord Tywin Lannister was marching on the Eyrie, burning and slaughtering as he went. One wine-sodden taleteller even claimed that Rhaegar Targaryen had returned from the dead and was marshaling a vast host of ancient heroes on Dragonstone to reclaim his father’s throne.
布兰、瑞肯和罗柏城主总算在这件事上达成一致：他们都希望父亲还在身边。但艾德公爵毕竟身在千里之外，身陷囹圄，或许成了亡命奔逃的通缉犯，甚至已经死去。真相究竟如何，没有人能确定，每个旅人所说的版本都不一样，而且一个比一个可怕：父亲手下卫士的头被插在枪尖，挂在红堡城墙上腐烂啦；劳勃国王死在父亲手中啦；拜拉席恩家的军队围攻君临啦；艾德公爵和国王的坏弟弟蓝礼一同逃往南方啦；艾莉亚和珊莎都被猎狗所杀啦；母亲杀了小恶魔提利昂，把他的尸体挂在奔流城城墙上啦；或者是泰温·兰尼斯特公爵率兵往鹰巢城进发，沿途烧杀掳掠之类。有个浑身酒味的说书人，甚至宣称雷加·坦格利安已经死而复生，正在龙石岛上号召千古英雄，准备夺回他父王的宝座呢。
When the raven came, bearing a letter marked with Father’s own seal and written in Sansa’s hand, the cruel truth seemed no less incredible. Bran would never forget the look on Robb’s face as he stared at their sister’s words. “She says Father conspired at treason with the king’s brothers,” he read. “King Robert is dead, and Mother and I are summoned to the Red Keep to swear fealty to Joffrey. She says we must be loyal, and when she marries Joffrey she will plead with him to spare our lord father’s life.” His fingers closed into a fist, crushing Sansa’s letter between them. “And she says nothing of Arya, nothing, not so much as a word. Damn her! What’s wrong with the girl?”
所以，后来当渡鸦带着由珊莎手书，盖了父亲印章的信件抵达时，残酷的事实似乎也不再那么令人惊讶。布兰永远忘不了罗柏读着姐姐来信时脸上的表情。“她说父亲和国王的两个弟弟密谋篡位，”他念道，“劳勃国王已死，母亲和我应火速前往红堡向乔佛里宣誓效忠。她说我们必须保证忠贞不贰，等她嫁给乔佛里，她会请求他饶父亲一命。”他用力握拳，把珊莎的信捏得稀烂。“她只字未提艾莉亚的情形，没有，一个字都没有！真是该死！这女孩到底怎么回事？”
Bran felt all cold inside. “She lost her wolf,” he said, weakly, remembering the day when four of his father’s guardsmen had returned from the south with Lady’s bones. Summer and Grey Wind and Shaggydog had begun to howl before they crossed the drawbridge, in voices drawn and desolate. Beneath the shadow of the First Keep was an ancient lichyard, its headstones spotted with pale lichen, where the old Kings of Winter had laid their faithful servants. It was there they buried Lady, while her brothers stalked between the graves like restless shadows. She had gone south, and only her bones had returned.
布兰的心凉了半截。“她没了小狼。”他虚弱地说，忆起那天父亲手下四名卫士从南方归来，带回淑女的遗骸，还没走过吊桥，夏天、灰风和毛毛狗便开始了凄楚的长嚎。在首堡的阴影下，有座古老的墓园，其中的墓碑上爬满了苍白的地衣，从前的冬境之王便是在此安葬他们忠诚的部属。他们在这里葬了淑女，她的兄弟不安地在坟墓间来回走动。她前往南方，归来却只剩骨骸。
Their grandfather, old Lord Rickard, had gone as well, with his son Brandon who was Father’s brother, and two hundred of his best men. None had ever returned. And Father had gone south, with Arya and Sansa, and Jory and Hullen and Fat Tom and the rest, and later Mother and Ser Rodrik had gone, and they hadn’t come back either. And now Robb meant to go. Not to King’s Landing and not to swear fealty, but to Riverrun, with a sword in his hand. And if their lord father were truly a prisoner, that could mean his death for a certainty. It frightened Bran more than he could say.
他们的祖父，老瑞卡德公爵，也曾前往南方，去的还有父亲的哥哥布兰登，以及公爵手下两百名精锐武士，结果无人归来。父亲也去了南方，他带着艾莉亚和珊莎，乔里、胡伦、胖汤姆和其他人，后来母亲和罗德利克爵士亦跟着去了，他们至今也都没回来。而今罗柏也要去，况且目的并非前往君临宣誓效忠，而是手握利剑，杀到奔流城去。假如父亲大人真的身在狱中，此举等于是宣判了他的死刑。布兰害怕得不知如何是好。
“If Robb has to go, watch over him,” Bran entreated the old gods, as they watched him with the heart tree’s red eyes, “and watch over his men, Hal and Quent and the rest, and Lord Umber and Lady Mormont and the other lords. And Theon too, I suppose. Watch them and keep them safe, if it please you, gods. Help them defeat the Lannisters and save Father and bring them home.”
“如果罗柏非去不可，请您们务必看顾他，”在远古诸神透过心树红眼睛的注视之下，布兰向他们祈求。“也请您们看顾他的部下，看顾哈尔、昆特他们，以及安柏大人、莫尔蒙夫人和其他诸侯。还有，还有席恩罢。请帮助他们打败兰尼斯特家的军队，救出父亲，把他带回家。”
A faint wind sighed through the godswood and the red leaves stirred and whispered. Summer bared his teeth. “You hear them, boy?” a voice asked.
一阵微风拂过神木林，有如深沉的叹息，红叶沙沙作响，彼此窃窃私语。夏天露出利齿。“小子，你听见他们的回答了吗？”一个声音问。
Bran lifted his head. Osha stood across the pool, beneath an ancient oak, her face shadowed by leaves. Even in irons, the wildling moved quiet as a cat. Summer circled the pool, sniffed at her. The tall woman flinched.
布兰抬起头，发现欧莎站在水池对面，正好在一棵古老的橡树底下，树叶遮住了她的脸。即使戴着手铐脚镣，这名野人依旧敏捷如猫。夏天绕过池子，朝她嗅了嗅。高个女人不禁一缩。
“Summer, to me,” Bran called. The direwolf took one final sniff, spun, and bounded back. Bran wrapped his arms around him. “What are you doing here?” He had not seen Osha since they’d taken her captive in the wolfswood, though he knew she’d been set to working in the kitchens.
“夏天，过来。”布兰唤道。冰原狼闻了最后一下，转身跑回。布兰伸手抱住它。“你在这里做什么？”自她在狼林被俘之后，布兰便没再见过她，但他知道她被派去厨房工作。
“They are my gods too,” Osha said. “Beyond the Wall, they are the only gods.” Her hair was growing out, brown and shaggy. It made her look more womanly, that and the simple dress of brown roughspun they’d given her when they took her mail and leather. “Gage lets me have my prayers from time to time, when I feel the need, and I let him do as he likes under my skirt, when he feels the need. It’s nothing to me. I like the smell of flour on his hands, and he’s gentler than Stiv.” She gave an awkward bow. “I’ll leave you. There’s pots that want scouring.”
“他们也是我的神，”欧莎道，“在长城之外，他们是惟一的真神。”她逐渐长长的棕色短发，和着那件朴素的棕色粗布衣，使她看起来比较像个女人。至于她的盔甲和皮革背心，早在被捕时就被拿走了。“盖奇时常会放我来这儿祷告，当我有需要的时候；而我也会让他掀起我的裙子办事，当他有需要的时候。对我来说这没什么，我还挺喜欢他手上的面粉味，更何况他比史帝夫温柔多了。”她有些不自在地鞠了个躬。“我不打扰了，还有些罐子要涮呢。”
“No, stay,” Bran commanded her. “Tell me what you meant, about hearing the gods.”
“不，留下来。”布兰命令她。“你刚才说能听见神说话，告诉我那是什么意思。”
Osha studied him. “You asked them and they’re answering. Open your ears, listen, you’ll hear.”
欧莎端详着他。“你向他们祈求，而他们正在回答。竖起耳朵，仔细倾听，你就会听到。”
Bran listened. “It’s only the wind,” he said after a moment, uncertain. “The leaves are rustling.”
布兰竖耳倾听。“不过是风声，”听了一会儿后，他不太确定地说，“还有叶子响动。”
“Who do you think sends the wind, if not the gods?” She seated herself across the pool from him, clinking faintly as she moved. Mikken had fixed iron manacles to her ankles, with a heavy chain between them; she could walk, so long as she kept her strides small, but there was no way for her to run, or climb, or mount a horse. “They see you, boy. They hear you talking. That rustling, that’s them talking back.”
“你以为这风是谁送来的？当然是天上诸神啊。”她在池对面坐下来，身上的锁链一阵轻响。密肯打造了一副脚镣，用沉重的铁链相连，扣住她两边脚踝；她能小步走路，但绝对跑不了，也没办法爬墙或骑马。“小子，他们看到了你，也听到了你说的话。树叶的声音就是他们的回答。”
“What are they saying?”
“他们在说什么？”
“They’re sad. Your lord brother will get no help from them, not where he’s going. The old gods have no power in the south. The weirwoods there were all cut down, thousands of years ago. How can they watch your brother when they have no eyes?”
“他们很哀伤。你的城主哥哥要去的地方，他们无法帮他。旧神在南方没有力量，那儿的鱼梁木早在几千年前就被砍伐一空。没有眼睛，他们该如何看顾你哥哥呢？”
Bran had not thought of that. It frightened him. If even the gods could not help his brother, what hope was there? Maybe Osha wasn’t hearing them right. He cocked his head and tried to listen again. He thought he could hear the sadness now, but nothing more than that.
布兰没想到这层。于是他害怕起来，若是连天上诸神都无法帮助哥哥，那还有何希望？或许是欧莎听错了。他歪着头，想要亲自再听听看，这回他听出了风中的哀伤，但仅此而已。
The rustling grew louder. Bran heard muffled footfalls and a low humming, and Hodor came blundering out of the trees, naked and smiling. “Hodor!”
沙沙声渐大，混杂着模糊的脚步和低沉的哼歌，浑身赤裸的阿多大步从林子里跑出来，面带微笑。“阿多！”
“He must have heard our voices,” Bran said. “Hodor, you forgot your clothes.”
“他一定是听到了我们的声音，”布兰说，“阿多，你忘记穿衣服啰。”
“Hodor,” Hodor agreed. He was dripping wet from the neck down, steaming in the chill air. His body was covered with brown hair, thick as a pelt. Between his legs, his manhood swung long and heavy.
“阿多！”阿多同意。他从头到脚滴着水，在冷空气里冒烟。他浑身长满褐色体毛，厚厚的活像一层皮，又长又大的命根子垂挂在两脚之间。
Osha eyed him with a sour smile. “Now there’s a big man,” she said. “He has giant’s blood in him, or I’m the queen.”
欧莎似笑非笑地看了他一眼。“这可真是个大块头啊，”她道，“我敢说，他体内有巨人的血统。”
“Maester Luwin says there are no more giants. He says they’re all dead, like the children of the forest. All that’s left of them are old bones in the earth that men turn up with plows from time to time.”
“鲁温师傅说世界上已经没有巨人了，他们都死了，和森林之子一样。剩下的只是他们的骨头，埋在地底，农夫犁田的时候常会翻到。”
“Let Maester Luwin ride beyond the Wall,” Osha said. “He’ll find giants then, or they’ll find him. My brother killed one. Ten foot tall she was, and stunted at that. They’ve been known to grow big as twelve and thirteen feet. Fierce things they are too, all hair and teeth, and the wives have beards like their husbands, so there’s no telling them apart. The women take human men for lovers, and it’s from them the half bloods come. It goes harder on the women they catch. The men are so big they’ll rip a maid apart before they get her with child.” She grinned at him. “But you don’t know what I mean, do you, boy?”
“你叫鲁温师傅到长城外面去瞧瞧，”欧莎说：“他会看到巨人，不然巨人也会找上他。我老哥就杀死过一个，她身高十尺，这还算是矮的。据说他们可以长到十二尺或十三尺，性情凶猛，浑身体毛，还生着尖牙齿。女巨人和她们的丈夫一样长有胡子，让人难以辨认。女巨人也会找人类男子当情人，巨人的血统就是这样流传出来的。相反，女方则做不到，男巨人体型太大，被他们强暴的女孩子还没怀孕就先被扯裂了。”她对他嘿嘿一笑。“小子，我看你不明白我在说什么，对吧？”
“Yes I do,” Bran insisted. He understood about mating; he had seen dogs in the yard, and watched a stallion mount a mare. But talking about it made him uncomfortable. He looked at Hodor. “Go back and bring your clothes, Hodor,” he said. “Go dress.”
“我知道啦。”布兰坚持。他知道交配是怎么回事：他看过场子上的狗交配，也见过公马骑母马，但谈论这方面的事令他不太舒服。他望向阿多。“阿多，去把你的衣服拿来，”他说：“去把衣服穿上。”
“Hodor.” He walked back the way he had come, ducking under a low-hanging tree limb.
“阿多。”他循原路走回，弯身穿过一根低垂的树枝。
He was awfully big, Bran thought as he watched him go. “Are there truly giants beyond the Wall?” he asked Osha, uncertainly.
他块头真的好大呀，布兰目送他离去，心里想着。“长城外真的有巨人吗？”他有些迟疑地问欧莎。
“Giants and worse than giants, Lordling. I tried to tell your brother when he asked his questions, him and your maester and that smiley boy Greyjoy. The cold winds are rising, and men go out from their fires and never come back?.?.?.?or if they do, they’re not men no more, but only wights, with blue eyes and cold black hands. Why do you think I run south with Stiv and Hali and the rest of them fools? Mance thinks he’ll fight, the brave sweet stubborn man, like the white walkers were no more than rangers, but what does he know? He can call himself King-beyond-the-Wall all he likes, but he’s still just another old black crow who flew down from the Shadow Tower. He’s never tasted winter. I was born up there, child, like my mother and her mother before her and her mother before her, born of the Free Folk. We remember.” Osha stood, her chains rattling together. “I tried to tell your lordling brother. Only yesterday, when I saw him in the yard. ‘M’lord Stark,’ I called to him, respectful as you please, but he looked through me, and that sweaty oaf Greatjon Umber shoves me out of the path. So be it. I’ll wear my irons and hold my tongue. A man who won’t listen can’t hear.”
“小少爷，不只巨人，还有比巨人更可怕的东西。你哥哥盘问我的时候，我就是这么跟他和你家老学士，以及那成天笑嘻嘻的葛雷乔伊说的。冷风已然吹起，人们若是离开炉火，就一去不返……就算回得来，也已经不是人了。他们变成尸鬼，生了蓝眼睛和冷冰冰的黑手。你以为我和史帝夫、哈莉以及其他那几个蠢蛋为啥逃到南方？曼斯这固执幼稚的老小子，自以为勇敢，想要对付他们，好像白鬼跟游骑兵没两样，可他懂什么？他再怎么自称‘塞外之王’，说穿了还不是只影子塔上飞下来的臭乌鸦？他根本没尝过冬天的滋味。我告诉你，小子，我是在那儿出生的，跟我老妈，我老妈的老妈以及她祖上好几代一样，我们是天生的‘自由民’，冬天什么样子，我们可是记得一清二楚。”欧莎站起身，脚上的铁链喀啦作响。“我试着告诉你那城主老哥，就昨天，我还在场子上见着他。‘史塔克大人，’我叫他，客气得可以，可他正眼都不瞧我一眼，而那满身汗臭的笨牛大琼恩·安柏手一挥就把我推开。既然这样，那就算啦，我就乖乖闭上嘴巴，戴着铁链。不愿倾听的人自然什么也听不到。”
“Tell me. Robb will listen to me, I know he will.”
“跟我说吧。我说的话罗柏会听，我知道他会听。”
“Will he now? We’ll see. You tell him this, m’lord. You tell him he’s bound on marching the wrong way. It’s north he should be taking his swords. North, not south. You hear me?”
“真的吗？那好。大人，您就这么跟他说：你走错了方向，应该带兵去北方。北方，不是南方，你听懂了没？”
Bran nodded. “I’ll tell him.”
布兰点点头。“我会告诉他的。”
But that night, when they feasted in the Great Hall, Robb was not with them. He took his meal in the solar instead, with Lord Rickard and the Greatjon and the other lords bannermen, to make the final plans for the long march to come. It was left to Bran to fill his place at the head of the table, and act the host to Lord Karstark’s sons and honored friends. They were already at their places when Hodor carried Bran into the hall on his back, and knelt beside the high seat. Two of the serving men helped lift him from his basket. Bran could feel the eyes of every stranger in the hall. It had grown quiet. “My lords,” Hallis Mollen announced, “Brandon Stark, of Winterfell.”
然而当晚在大厅用餐时，罗柏却不在场。他在书房里用餐，和瑞卡德伯爵、大琼恩以及其他诸侯共商大计，为即将来临的长征做最后策划。于是布兰只好扮演主人的角色，代替他坐在餐桌首席，欢迎卡史塔克伯爵的儿子和部下。阿多背着布兰走进大厅时，他们都已就座。阿多在高位旁蹲下，两名仆人把他从篮子里抱出。布兰觉得整个大厅顿时安静下来，每一双陌生的眼睛都盯着他看。“诸位大人，”哈里斯·莫兰朗声宣布，“临冬城的布兰登·史塔克到。”
“I welcome you to our fires,” Bran said stiffly, “and offer you meat and mead in honor of our friendship.”
“欢迎各位来到我们的火炉边，”布兰生硬地说，“让我们共享佳肴美酒，象征友谊长存。”
Harrion Karstark, the oldest of Lord Rickard’s sons, bowed, and his brothers after him, yet as they settled back in their places he heard the younger two talking in low voices, over the clatter of wine cups. “?.?.?.?sooner die than live like that,” muttered one, his father’s namesake Eddard, and his brother Torrhen said likely the boy was broken inside as well as out, too craven to take his own life.
卡史塔克伯爵的大儿子哈利昂·卡史塔克鞠了个躬，他的弟弟们也依次行礼，可当他们坐下后，在一片酒杯碰撞声中，他却听见那两个小儿子低声交谈。“……宁愿死也不要这样苟延残喘。”名叫艾德的那个说，而另一个叫托伦的则说那男孩大概不只身体残废，心里也是残废，胆子太小，不敢自杀。
Broken, Bran thought bitterly as he clutched his knife. Is that what he was now? Bran the Broken? “I don’t want to be broken,” he whispered fiercely to Maester Luwin, who’d been seated to his right. “I want to be a knight.”
残废，布兰握着餐刀，心中苦涩地想，这就是现在的他？残废的布兰？“我也不想残废啊，”他语气激烈地对坐在右手边的鲁温学士低语，“我想当骑士。”
“There are some who call my order the knights of the mind,” Luwin replied. “You are a surpassing clever boy when you work at it, Bran. Have you ever thought that you might wear a maester’s chain? There is no limit to what you might learn.”
“有人称我的组织为‘心灵的骑士’，”鲁温回答，“布兰，你一旦用心起来，是个聪明绝顶的孩子。你可曾考虑戴上学士的项链？学海无涯，你想学什么都可以。”
“I want to learn magic,” Bran told him. “The crow promised that I would fly.”
“我想学魔法。”布兰告诉他，“我梦里那只乌鸦向我保证我可以飞。”
Maester Luwin sighed. “I can teach you history, healing, herblore. I can teach you the speech of ravens, and how to build a castle, and the way a sailor steers his ship by the stars. I can teach you to measure the days and mark the seasons, and at the Citadel in Oldtown they can teach you a thousand things more. But, Bran, no man can teach you magic.”
鲁温学士叹了口气。“我可以教你历史、医术和药草知识；可以教你如何与乌鸦沟通、如何修筑城堡；可以教你水手是如何借助星辰制定航向；可以教你如何计算历法、观测季节。在旧镇的学城里，他们还可以教你一千种其他功夫。但是，布兰，没有人能教你魔法。”
“The children could,” Bran said. “The children of the forest.” That reminded him of the promise he had made to Osha in the godswood, so he told Luwin what she had said.
“森林之子可以，”布兰说，“森林之子一定可以。”这让他想起早先时在神木林里答应欧莎的事，于是他把她所说的话一五一十告诉了鲁温师傅。
The maester listened politely. “The wildling woman could give Old Nan lessons in telling tales, I think,” he said when Bran was done. “I will talk with her again if you like, but it would be best if you did not trouble your brother with this folly. He has more than enough to concern him without fretting over giants and dead men in the woods. It’s the Lannisters who hold your lord father, Bran, not the children of the forest.” He put a gentle hand on Bran’s arm. “Think on what I said, child.”
老学士很有礼貌地听完。“我认为这个女野人可以教老奶妈说故事。”布兰讲完之后，他静静地说，“你坚持的话，我可以再去跟她谈谈，不过，我认为你最好别拿这些荒唐话去烦你哥哥。他要操心的事情已经够多，没时间理会什么巨人和林子里的死者。布兰，囚禁你父亲的是兰尼斯特，而非森林之子啊。”他轻拍布兰手臂。“孩子，仔细想想我说的话吧。”
And two days later, as a red dawn broke across a windswept sky, Bran found himself in the yard beneath the gatehouse, strapped atop Dancer as he said his farewells to his brother.
两天后，当晨光染红强风吹拂的天边薄云之际，布兰被捆在小舞背上，在城门楼下的广场与哥哥道别。
“You are the lord in Winterfell now,” Robb told him. He was mounted on a shaggy grey stallion, his shield hung from the horse’s side; wood banded with iron, white and grey, and on it the snarling face of a direwolf. His brother wore grey chainmail over bleached leathers, sword and dagger at his waist, a fur-trimmed cloak across his shoulders. “You must take my place, as I took Father’s, until we come home.”
“如今你就是临冬城主，”罗柏告诉他。哥哥骑着一匹长毛的灰骏马，盾牌悬挂在旁边：木造盾牌，外镶铁片，灰白相间，上面刻画了咆哮的冰原狼头。他身穿漂白的皮革背心，外罩灰色锁子甲，腰际挂着长剑和匕首，肩披绒毛滚边的披风。“你必须暂代我职，如同我暂代父亲的位置一样，直到我们回家。”
“I know,” Bran replied miserably. He had never felt so little or alone or scared. He did not know how to be a lord.
“我知道。”布兰可怜兮兮地回答。他从未感觉如此孤单寂寞，又如此害怕。他根本不知道城主该怎么当。
“Listen to Maester Luwin’s counsel, and take care of Rickon. Tell him that I’ll be back as soon as the fighting is done.”
“听从鲁温师傅的意见，并好好照顾瑞肯。告诉他，等战事结束，我就立刻回家。”
Rickon had refused to come down. He was up in his chamber, redeyed and defiant. “No!” he’d screamed when Bran had asked if he didn’t want to say farewell to Robb. “NO farewell!”
瑞肯拒绝下楼，他红着眼睛，倔强地躲在楼上卧房里。“不要！”当布兰问他要不要跟罗柏说再见时，他大声尖叫，“不要说再见！”
“I told him,” Bran said. “He says no one ever comes back.”
“我跟他说过了，”布兰道，“可他说大家都没回来。”
“He can’t be a baby forever. He’s a Stark, and near four.” Robb sighed. “Well, Mother will be home soon. And I’ll bring back Father, I promise.”
“他不能永远当个小孩子。他是史塔克家族的人，已经快满四岁了。”罗柏叹道，“嗯，母亲就快回来了，我也会把父亲带回来，我向你保证。”
He wheeled his courser around and trotted away. Grey Wind followed, loping beside the warhorse, lean and swift. Hallis Mollen went before them through the gate, carrying the rippling white banner of House Stark atop a high standard of grey ash. Theon Greyjoy and the Greatjon fell in on either side of Robb, and their knights formed up in a double column behind them, steel-tipped lances glinting in the sun.
说完，他调转马头，快步跑开。灰风身形矫健地跟了上去，跑在战马旁边。哈里斯·莫兰走在最前，领头穿过城门，高举史塔克家族的灰白旗帜，旌旗在风中飘动。席恩·葛雷乔伊和大琼恩走在罗柏两侧，骑士们则成两列纵队紧随在后，钢铁枪尖在日光下闪闪发亮。
Uncomfortably, he remembered Osha’s words. He’s marching the wrong way, he thought. For an instant he wanted to gallop after him and shout a warning, but when Robb vanished beneath the portcullis, the moment was gone.
他不安地想起欧莎所说的话，他走错方向了。一时之间，他竟想纵马追上，高声警告，但罗柏很快消失在闸门之外，时机转瞬即逝。
Beyond the castle walls, a roar of sound went up. The foot soldiers and townsfolk were cheering Robb as he rode past, Bran knew; cheering for Lord Stark, for the Lord of Winterfell on his great stallion, with his cloak streaming and Grey Wind racing beside him. They would never cheer for him that way, he realized with a dull ache. He might be the lord in Winterfell while his brother and father were gone, but he was still Bran the Broken. He could not even get off his own horse, except to fall.
城墙之外响起阵阵欢呼，布兰知道这是步兵和镇民在夹道欢送罗柏，欢送史塔克大人，欢送跨骑骏马的临冬城主，他的披风在风中飘动，灰风奔驰于身畔。他突然想到，他们永远也不会这样为他欢呼，心里不禁隐隐作痛。父兄不在时，他或许能暂任临冬城主，但他依旧是“残废的布兰”，连自己下马都做不到，除非是摔下去。
When the distant cheers had faded to silence and the yard was empty at last, Winterfell seemed deserted and dead. Bran looked around at the faces of those who remained, women and children and old men?.?.?.?and Hodor. The huge stableboy had a lost and frightened look to his face. “Hodor?” he said sadly.
当远处的欢呼声逐渐平息，终归寂静，广场上的部队都离开之后，临冬城仿佛遭人遗弃，了无生气。布兰环顾周遭留下来的老弱妇孺……还有阿多。高个马僮脸上有种失落和害怕的神情。“阿多？”他哀伤地说。
“Hodor,” Bran agreed, wondering what it meant.
“阿多。”布兰附和，心里却不知道那是什么意思。
