Ⅳ 群鸦的盛宴 Chapter20 布蕾妮
BRIENNE
女泉城东面的丘陵枝繁叶茂，松树从四面八方围拢，仿佛沉默的灰绿色士兵组成的军团。
East of Maidenpool the hills rose wild, and the pines closed in about them like a host of silent grey-green soldiers.
机灵狄克说海边的路最近，也最好走，因此一路上海湾很少离开视线。随着前进，岸边的市镇和村庄变得越来越小，越来越稀疏。夜幕降临时，他们找到一家客栈。克莱勃跟其他旅行者一起睡通铺，布蕾妮则为自己和波德瑞克要了一间房。“我们三人共享一张床更划算，小姐。”机灵狄克建议，“如果你不放心，把剑放中间。老狄克是个正派人，他像骑士一样有风度，他的诚实好比白昼的太阳。”
Nimble Dick said the coast road was the shortest way, and the easiest, so they were seldom out of sight of the bay. The towns and villages along the shore grew smaller as they went, and less frequent. At nightfall they would seek an inn. Crabb would share the common bed with other travelers, whilst Brienne took a room for her and Podrick. “Cheaper if we all shared the same bed, m’lady,” Nimble Dick would say. “You could lay your sword between us. Old Dick’s a harmless fellow. Chivalrous as a knight, and honest as the day is long.”
“白昼正在缩短。”布蕾妮指出。
“The days are growing shorter,” Brienne pointed out.
“好吧，也许是这样。如果你不放心，我睡地板你睡床怎么样，小姐？”
“Well, that may be. If you don’t trust me in the bed, I could just curl up on the floor, m’lady.”
“不能睡我的地板。”
“Not on my floor.”
“看来你一点儿也不信任我。”
“A man might think you don’t trust me none.”
“信任跟金币一样，要靠行动来挣取。”
“Trust is earned. Like gold.”
“随你怎么说，小姐，”克莱勃说，“但到了北边，没有路的地方，你不得不信任狄克。假如我拿剑指着你要金币，谁会阻止呢？”
“As you say, m’lady,” said Crabb, “but up north where the road gives out, you’ll need t’ trust Dick then. If I wanted t’ take your gold at swordpoint, who’s to stop me?”
“你没剑。我有。”
“You don’t own a sword. I do.”
她“砰”的一声关上门，然后站在原地倾听，直到确信他已走开。不管狄克·克莱勃有多机灵，他毕竟不是詹姆·兰尼斯特，不是疯鼠，甚至不是亨佛利·瓦格斯塔夫。他瘦骨嶙岣，食不果腹，唯一的防具是一顶锈迹斑斑、布满凹痕的半盔。他没剑，只有一把带豁口的旧匕首——所以，只要她保持清醒，他便构不成威胁。“波德瑞克，”她说，“将来没有客栈给我们住，而我不信任我们的向导。所以每次野营之后，当我睡觉时，你能不能留心看着点？”
She shut the door between them and stood there listening until she was certain he had moved away. However nimble he might be, Dick Crabb was no Jaime Lannister, no Mad Mouse, not even a Humfrey Wagstaff. He was scrawny and ill fed, his only armor a dinted halfhelm spotted with rust. In place of a sword, he carried an old, nicked dagger. So long as she was awake, he posed no danger to her. “Podrick,” she said, “there will come a time when there are no more inns to shelter us. I do not trust our guide. When we make camp, can you watch over me as I sleep?”
“一直不睡，小姐？爵士？”他想了想，“我有剑，假如克莱勃想伤你，我杀了他便是。”
“Stay awake, my lady? Ser.” He thought. “I have a sword. If Crabb tries to hurt you, I could kill him.”
“不，”她坚决地说，“你不要跟他打。我只要你在我睡觉时监视他，假如他有任何可疑行为，立即弄醒我。放心，我醒得很快的。”
“No,” she said sternly. “You are not to try and fight him. All I ask is that you watch him as I sleep, and wake me if he does anything suspicious. I wake quickly, you will find.”
结果第二天停下饮马时，克莱勃就露出了本色。布蕾妮走到灌木丛后面去方便，她蹲在那里，听到波德瑞克说，“你干吗？离远点儿。”完事之后，她拉起裤子，回到路上，发现机灵狄克正在擦去手指上的面粉。“鞍囊里没有金龙，”她告诉他，“我把金币放身上了。”一部分金币放在她腰带上系的钱袋里，其余的藏在衣服内侧缝的两只口袋中。鞍囊上鼓鼓的大钱包塞满了大大小小不同面值的铜币和铜板，铜星币与铜麦币……还有让包袱显得更加鼓鼓囊囊的白面粉，那是自暮谷城出发前的早晨，她特意问七剑客栈的厨子买的。
Crabb showed his true colors the next day, when they stopped to water the horses. Brienne had to step behind some bushes to empty her bladder. As she was squatting, she heard Podrick say, “What are you doing? You get away from there.” She finished her business, hiked up her breeches, and returned to the road to find Nimble Dick wiping flour off his fingers. “You won’t find any dragons in my saddlebags,” she told him. “I keep my gold upon my person.” Some of it was in the pouch at her belt, the rest hidden in a pair of pockets sewn inside her clothing. The fat purse inside her saddlebag was filled with coppers large and small, pennies and halfpennies, groats and stars … and fine white flour, to make it fatter still. She had bought the flour from the cook at the Seven Swords the morning she rode out from Duskendale.
“狄克没恶意，小姐。”他晃晃沾着面粉的手指，以示无辜。“我只想确认你到底有没有答应我的金龙。这世上骗子多，正派人容易上当。不过还好，你不是骗子。”
“Dick meant no harm, m’lady.” He wriggled his flour-spotted fingers to show he held no weapon. “I was only looking to see if you had these dragons what you promised me. The world’s full o’ liars, ready to cheat an honest man. Not that you’re one.”
布蕾妮希望他带路的水平比偷东西强一些。“出发吧。”她再度翻上马背。
Brienne hoped he was a better guide than he was a thief. “We had best be going.” She mounted up again.
狄克喜欢边骑边唱歌，但没唱过一首完整的歌，总是东一节，西一段的。她怀疑他的目的是讨她喜欢，好令她放松警惕。有时他还试图让她和波德瑞克一起唱，不过没有成功。男孩太害羞，舌头也笨，而布蕾妮从不唱歌。你会唱歌给父亲听吗？在奔流城，史塔克夫人曾经问过她，为蓝礼呢？她没有，从来没有，尽管她心里很想……真的很想……
Dick would oft sing as they rode along together; never a whole song, only a snatch of this and a verse of that. She suspected that he meant to charm her, to put her off her guard. Sometimes he would try to get her and Podrick to sing along with him, to no avail. The boy was too shy and tongue-tied, and Brienne did not sing. Did you sing for your father? Lady Stark had asked her once, at Riverrun. Did you sing for Renly? She had not, not ever, though she had wanted … she had wanted …
机灵狄克不唱歌时就说话，给他们讲蟹爪半岛的故事。他说，每一个幽暗的山谷都有其领主，但只有对付外人时才会联合起来。他们的血管里流着浓浓的先民之血。“安达尔人试图夺取蟹爪半岛，结果在山谷中流血，在沼泽中淹死，处处碰壁。后来他们的漂亮女儿靠亲吻赢得了他们强壮的儿子用剑无法获取的东西——是的，他们征服不了我们，转而用婚姻来渗透。”
When he was not singing, Nimble Dick would talk, regaling them with tales of Crackclaw Point. Every gloomy valley had its lord, he said, the lot of them united only by their mistrust of outsiders. In their veins the blood of the First Men ran dark and strong. “The Andals tried t’ take Crackclaw, but we bled them in the valleys and drowned them in the bogs. Only what their sons couldn’t win with swords, their pretty daughters won with kisses. They married into the houses they couldn’t conquer, aye.”
暮谷城达克林家族的国王们曾试图将领地延伸至蟹爪半岛，女泉城的慕顿家族，包括后来蟹岛的赛提加家族也尝试过。然而蟹爪半岛的居民熟悉本地的沼泽与森林，外人无法比拟，如果形势危急，他们还能消失在丘陵中蜂窝般的山洞里。不跟外敌作战时，大家就窝里斗，家族血仇如同山间的沼泽一般又黑又深。有时某位英雄会为蟹爪半岛带来暂时的和平，但等他死去，一切又恢复原状。路西法·哈迪伯爵是伟大的领主，布伦兄弟也一样，老克莱克波恩比他们更胜一筹，但克莱勃是最强大的。狄克仍然不肯相信布蕾妮从没听说过克莱伦斯·克莱勃爵士的英雄事迹。
The Darklyn kings of Duskendale had tried to impose their rule on Crackclaw Point; the Mootons of Maidenpool had tried as well, and later the haughty Celtigars of Crab Isle. But the Crackclaws knew their bogs and forests as no outsider could, and if hard pressed would vanish into the caverns that honeycombed their hills. When not fighting would-be conquerors, they fought each other. Their blood feuds were as deep and dark as the bogs between their hills. From time to time some champion would bring peace to the Point, but it never lasted longer than his lifetime. Lord Lucifer Hardy, he was a great one, and the Brothers Brune as well. Old Crackbones even more so, but the Crabbs were the mightiest of all. Dick still refused to believe that Brienne had never heard of Ser Clarence Crabb and his exploits.
“我干吗撒谎？”她反问，“每个地方都有当地的英雄。比如我住的地方，歌手们歌颂摩恩的加勒敦爵士，完美的骑士。”
“Why would I lie?” she asked him. “Every place has its local heroes. Where I come from, the singers sing of Ser Galladon of Morne, the Perfect Knight.”
“加勒什么什么爵士？”他嗤之以鼻，“没听说过。他哪里完美了？”
“Ser Gallawho of What?” He snorted. “Never heard o’ him. Why was he so bloody perfect?”
“加勒敦爵士是一位英勇的战士，连天上的处女神都为之倾心。于是她送给他一把魔剑，作为爱的信物。这把剑被称为‘正义之淑女’，没有凡间的武器能与她匹敌，也没有凡间的盾牌能承受她的亲吻。加勒敦爵士终其一生都骄傲地佩带着‘正义之淑女’，但只拔出过三次。他不愿用‘正义之淑女’对付凡人，因为她太过强大，会令战斗不公平。”
“Ser Galladon was a champion of such valor that the Maiden herself lost her heart to him. She gave him an enchanted sword as a token of her love. The Just Maid, it was called. No common sword could check her, nor any shield withstand her kiss. Ser Galladon bore the Just Maid proudly, but only thrice did he unsheathe her. He would not use the Maid against a mortal man, for she was so potent as to make any fight unfair.”
克莱勃认为这太可笑了。“完美的骑士？听起来是个完美的傻瓜。一把从来不用的魔剑有什么意义？”
Crabb thought that was hilarious. “The Perfect Knight? The Perfect Fool, he sounds like. What’s the point o’ having some magic sword if you don’t bloody well use it?”
“荣誉，”她说，“意义在于荣誉。”
“Honor,” she said. “The point is honor.”
这令他笑得更厉害。“克莱伦斯·克莱勃爵士可以拿你们的完美骑士来擦他毛茸茸的屁股，小姐。要我说啊，假如教克莱勃爵士遇上，轻语堡的架子上又得多一颗血淋淋的头颅了。‘早知道我该使用那柄魔剑’，它会对其他脑袋抱怨，‘早知道我该使用那柄魔剑。’”
That only made him laugh the louder. “Ser Clarence Crabb would have wiped his hairy arse with your Perfect Knight, m’lady. If they’d ever have met, there’d be one more bloody head sitting on the shelf at the Whispers, you ask me. ‘I should have used the magic sword,’ it’d be saying to all the other heads. ‘I should have used the bloody sword.’ ”
布蕾妮忍不住微笑。“也许吧，”她承认，“但加勒敦爵士不是傻瓜。面对一个身高八尺、骑野牛的对手，他很可能亮出‘正义之淑女’。他们说他曾用她杀死一条龙呢。”
Brienne could not help but smile. “Perhaps,” she allowed, “but Ser Galladon was no fool. Against a foe eight feet tall mounted on an aurochs, he might well have unsheathed the Just Maid. He used her once to slay a dragon, they say.”
机灵狄克不为所动：“克莱克波恩也跟龙搏斗过，而且不需要什么魔剑。他只不过将龙的脖子打了个结，这样它每次喷火都会烧到自己的屁股。”
Nimble Dick was unimpressed. “Crackbones fought a dragon too, but he didn’t need no magic sword. He just tied its neck in a knot, so every time it breathed fire it roasted its own arse.”
“那伊耿和他的妹妹们到来时克莱克波恩在干什么呢？”布蕾妮问。
“And what did Crackbones do when Aegon and his sisters came?” Brienne asked him.
“你要知道，那时候他已经死啦，小姐。”克莱勃横了她一眼。“伊耿派妹妹来蟹爪半岛招安，就是那个维桑尼亚。领主们听说了赫伦王的下场，他们可不是傻瓜，因此都屈膝臣服了。王后收他们作直属封臣，承诺他们无须向女泉城、蟹岛或暮谷城效忠。然而这没能阻止可恶的赛提加家族派人来东岸征税。哼，假如他派的人够多，也许有几个可以活着回去……从始到终，我们只效忠自己的领主和国王。真正的国王。不是劳勃一家子。”他啐了一口，“在三叉戟河，跟雷加王子一起奋战的有克莱勃、有布伦，也有鲍格斯，御林铁卫里面也有过我们的人，包括一位哈迪，一位凯佛，一位潘恩，三位克莱勃——克莱蒙特、卢伯特和七矮个，克莱伦斯。其实他有六尺高，但比真正的克莱伦斯爵士要矮。总而言之，我们蟹爪半岛人全是巨龙家族的模范臣民。”
“He was dead. M’lady must know that.” Crabb gave her a sideways look. “Aegon sent his sister up to Crackclaw, that Visenya. The lords had heard o’ Harren’s end. Being no fools, they laid their swords at her feet. The queen took them as her own men, and said they’d owe no fealty to Maidenpool, Crab Isle, or Duskendale. Don’t stop them bloody Celtigars from sending men to t’ eastern shore to collect his taxes. If he sends enough, a few come back to him … elsewise, we bow only to our own lords, and the king. The true king, not Robert and his ilk.” He spat. “There was Crabbs and Brunes and Boggses with Prince Rhaegar on the Trident, and in the Kingsguard too. A Hardy, a Cave, a Pyne, and three Crabbs, Clement and Rupert and Clarence the Short. Six foot tall, he was, but short compared to the real Ser Clarence. We’re all good dragon men, up Crackclaw way.”
他们向东北方前进，行人不断减少，直到最后，再也找不着客栈了。海湾旁的道路上野草已经多过车辙。当晚他们在渔村栖身。布蕾妮付给村民一些铜板，住进草棚。进去之后，她和波德瑞克占据阁楼，并把梯子抽掉了。
The traffic continued to dwindle as they moved north and east, until finally there were no inns to be found. By then the bayside road was more weeds than ruts. That night they took shelter in a fishing village. Brienne paid the villagers a few coppers to allow them to bed down in a hay barn. She claimed the loft for Podrick and herself, and pulled the ladder up after them.
“你留我一个在下面，我完全可以偷走你们的马，”克莱勃在底下喊道，“最好把它们也赶上楼梯，小姐。”她没理睬，于是他继续说，“今晚要下雨的。冰冷难熬的雨。你和波德睡得暖暖和和，可怜老狄克一个人在下面瑟瑟发抖。”他摇摇头，一边嘀咕，一边在干草上铺好铺盖，“没见过像你这么疑神疑鬼的处女。”
“You leave me down here alone, I could bloody well steal your horses,” Crabb called up from below. “Best you get them up the ladder too, m’lady.” When she ignored him, he went on to say, “It’s going to rain tonight. A cold hard rain. You and Pods will sleep all snug and warm, and poor old Dick will be shivering down here by myself.” He shook his head, muttering, as he made a bed on a pile of hay. “I never knew such a mistrustful maid as you.”
布蕾妮在斗篷底下蜷起身子，波德瑞克则于一旁打哈欠。我并非生来就这么疑神疑鬼，她有些想朝下面的克莱勃叫喊，当我还是个小女孩时，相信所有人都跟父亲一样高尚。即便他们夸赞她是个漂亮的女孩，夸赞她聪明伶俐，身材高挑，舞蹈优美，她也深信不疑。罗伊拉修女为她揭开了谜底。“他们只为讨你父亲大人欢心，”修女说，“你要在镜子里去发现真相，而不是在人们的舌尖上。”这是一个残酷的教训，她每每想起就会痛哭流涕，但这个教训也让她能在高庭忍受海尔爵士及其朋友们的游戏。活在世上，处女必须多一点怀疑，否则早就不是处女了，她想着想着，下起雨来。
Brienne curled up beneath her cloak, with Podrick yawning at her side. I was not always wary, she might have shouted down at Crabb. When I was a little girl I believed that all men were as noble as my father. Even the men who told her what a pretty girl she was, how tall and bright and clever, how graceful when she danced. It was Septa Roelle who had lifted the scales from her eyes. “They only say those things to win your lord father’s favor,” the woman had said. “You’ll find truth in your looking glass, not on the tongues of men.” It was a harsh lesson, one that left her weeping, but it had stood her in good stead at Harrenhal when Ser Hyle and his friends had played their game. A maid has to be mistrustful in this world, or she will not be a maid for long, she was thinking, as the rain began to fall.
苦桥的团体比武中，她逐个揪出她所谓的追求者们，依次击败：法洛、安布罗斯、布希、马克·慕伦道尔、雷蒙德·内兰、“鹳鸟”威尔……她踏过哈利·索耶的身躯，击碎罗伯特·波特的头盔，给他留下一道丑陋的伤疤。等他们统统倒下，圣母又将克林顿送到她面前。罗兰爵士这回拿的是剑，不是玫瑰，而她给予他的每记痛击都比亲吻更甜蜜。
In the mêlée at Bitterbridge she had sought out her suitors and battered them one by one, Farrow and Ambrose and Bushy, Mark Mullendore and Raymond Nayland and Will the Stork. She had ridden over Harry Sawyer and broken Robin Potter’s helm, giving him a nasty scar. And when the last of them had fallen, the Mother had delivered Connington to her. This time Ser Ronnet held a sword and not a rose. Every blow she dealt him was sweeter than a kiss.
当天最后一个面对她怒火的人是洛拉斯·提利尔。他没向她献过殷勤，甚至根本没看过她一眼，但那天他的盾牌上有三朵金玫瑰，布蕾妮痛恨玫瑰，看到它们，立刻激起了她狂暴的仇恨。睡着之后，她梦到那场战斗，梦到詹姆爵士亲手将彩虹披风系到她的肩头。
Loras Tyrell had been the last to face her wroth that day. He’d never courted her, had hardly looked at her at all, but he bore three golden roses on his shield that day, and Brienne hated roses. The sight of them had given her a furious strength. She went to sleep dreaming of the fight they’d had, and of Ser Jaime fastening a rainbow cloak about her shoulders.
第二天早晨，雨还在下。吃早餐时，机灵狄克建议等雨停了再走。
It was still raining the next morning. As they broke their fast, Nimble Dick suggested that they wait for it to stop.
“那要等到什么时候？明天？两星期？等到夏天重新降临？不。我们有斗篷，而路还长着呢。”
“When will that be? On the morrow? In a fortnight? When summer comes again? No. We have cloaks, and leagues to ride.”
雨下了整整一天，脚下的狭窄小道很快变成泥浆水潭。树光秃秃的，持续降雨令落叶变得像浸透水的棕色地毯。尽管狄克的斗篷有松鼠皮衬里，但他还是湿透了，她看得出他在发抖，不由得感到片刻同情。显然，他一直吃不饱，她疑惑地想，不知是否真有走私者的山洞或叫做轻语堡的废墟。饥不择食的人会孤注一掷。也许一切都是骗局。她的疑惑越来越深。
It rained all that day. The narrow track they followed soon turned to mud beneath them. What trees they saw were naked, and the steady rain had turned their fallen leaves into a sodden brown mat. Despite its squirrel-skin lining, Dick’s cloak soaked through, and she could see him shivering. Brienne felt a moment’s pity for the man. He has not eaten well, that’s plain. She wondered if there truly was a smugglers’ cove, or a ruined castle called the Whispers. Hungry men do desperate things. This all might be some ploy to cozen her. Suspicion soured her stomach.
雨水冲刷仿佛是天地间唯一的声响。机灵狄克一个劲儿只顾着向前跋涉。于是她多了个心眼，发现他总是弓着背，仿佛低伏在马鞍上就能保持干燥。这回，黑暗降临时，附近没有村落，也没有可以提供遮蔽的树林。他们被迫在潮线上方五十码处的岩石群中露宿。至少岩石可以挡风。“今晚最好有人守夜，小姐，”她正努力点燃一堆浮木，克莱勃告诉她，“像这样的地方也许会有吧唧脚。”
For a time it seemed as though the steady wash of rain was the only sound in the world. Nimble Dick plowed on, heedless. She watched closely, noting how he bent his back, as if huddling low in the saddle would keep him dry. This time there was no village close at hand when darkness came upon them. Nor were there any trees to give them shelter. They were forced to camp amongst some rocks, fifty yards above the tideline. The rocks at least would keep the wind off. “Best we keep a watch tonight, m’lady,” Crabb told her, as she was struggling to get a driftwood fire lit. “A place like this, there might be squishers.”
“吧唧脚？”布蕾妮怀疑地看了他一眼。
“Squishers?” Brienne gave him a suspicious look.
“它们是怪物，”机灵狄克津津乐道地解释，“看上去很像人，走近观察才能发现蹊跷，它们的脑袋太大，而正常人长头发的地方，它们长的是鳞片。它们的皮肤像鱼肚子一样白，手指之间有蹼，身体湿乎乎的，散发出鱼腥味，肥厚的嘴唇包着一排排针尖般锋利的绿牙齿。有人说先民已将它们赶尽杀绝，这可不是真的，它们还会在夜里出没，偷走坏小孩，长蹼的脚走路时发出‘吧唧吧唧’的轻微声响。它们把女孩留着繁衍后代，吃掉男孩，用尖利的绿牙齿撕咬人肉。”他冲波德瑞克咧嘴一笑。“它们会吃了你哦，小子，它们会把你活活吃掉。”
“Monsters,” Nimble Dick said, with relish. “They look like men till you get close, but their heads is too big, and they got scales where a proper man’s got hair. Fish-belly white they are, with webs between their fingers. They’re always damp and fishy-smelling, but behind these blubbery lips they got rows of green teeth sharp as needles. Some say the First Men killed them all, but don’t you believe it. They come by night and steal bad little children, padding along on them webbed feet with a little squish-squish sound. The girls they keep to breed with, but the boys they eat, tearing at them with those sharp green teeth.” He grinned at Podrick. “They’d eat you, boy. They’d eat you raw.”
“假如它们想试试看的话，我就杀了它们。”波德瑞克摸摸自己的剑。
“If they try, I’ll kill them.” Podrick touched his sword.
“哦，你去杀吧，你去杀吧。吧唧脚可不容易对付。”他又冲布蕾妮眨眨眼，“你不是不乖的小女孩吧，小姐？”
“You try that. You just try. Squishers don’t die easy.” He winked at Brienne. “You a bad little girl, m’lady?”
“不。”我只是个傻子。木头太湿，不管布蕾妮用钢铁和燧石怎么打，都无法点燃。木柴冒出一点烟，仅此而已。最后她厌烦了，往岩石上一靠，拉起斗篷盖住自己，准备挨一个寒冷潮湿的夜晚。她啃着硬邦邦的腌牛肉，一边梦想热餐，而机灵狄克唾沫横飞地讲述克莱伦斯·克莱勃爵士大战吧唧脚之王。他讲故事十分生动，她不得不承认，但带着小猴子的马克·慕伦道尔也很有趣。
“No.” Just a fool. The wood was too damp to light, no matter how many sparks Brienne struck off her flint and steel. The kindling sent up some smoke, but that was all. Disgusted, she settled down with her back to a rock, pulled her cloak over herself, and resigned herself to a cold, wet night. Dreaming of a hot meal, she gnawed on a strip of hard salt beef whilst Nimble Dick talked about the time Ser Clarence Crabb had fought the squisher king. He tells a lively tale, she had to admit, but Mark Mullendore was amusing too, with his little monkey.
由于下雨的关系，看不到日落，而天色阴郁，也看不到月亮升起。漆黑的夜晚没有星光，克莱勃讲完故事便睡着了，波德瑞克也很快打起鼾来。布蕾妮背靠岩石坐着，聆听海浪。你也在海边吗，珊莎？她心想，你在轻语堡等待永远也不会来的船吗？你跟谁在一起？有人出钱让三个人搭船，是小恶魔加入了你和唐托斯的队伍，还是你找到了自己的小妹？
It was too wet to see the sun go down, too grey to see the moon come up. The night was black and starless. Crabb ran out of tales and went to sleep. Podrick was soon snoring too. Brienne sat with her back to the rock, listening to the waves. Are you near the sea, Sansa? she wondered. Are you waiting at the Whispers for a ship that will never come? Who do you have with you? Passage for three, he said. Has the Imp joined you and Ser Dontos, or did you find your little sister?
那是一个漫长的夜晚，布蕾妮万分疲倦。背靠岩石，任凭雨水轻轻拍打全身，眼睑越来越沉。她一共打了两次盹，第二次是突然醒来的，心怦怦直跳，确信有个人正俯视着自己。她四肢僵硬，斗篷缠绕在脚踝上，慌忙踢开它站起来。狄克蜷在一块岩石边，半埋于沉甸甸的潮湿沙土中，沉睡。一个梦。只是梦。
The day had been a long one, and Brienne was tired. Even sitting up against the rock, with rain pattering softly all around her, she found her eyelids growing heavy. Twice she dozed. The second time she woke all at once, heart pounding, convinced that someone was looming over her. Her limbs were stiff, and her cloak had gotten tangled round her ankles. She kicked free of it and stood. Nimble Dick was curled against a rock, half-buried in wet, heavy sand, asleep. A dream. It was a dream.
也许抛下克雷顿爵士和伊利佛爵士是个错误，他们看上去是正派人。假如詹姆跟我在一起，她心想……但他是御林铁卫的骑士，理应留在国王身边，而且我想要的是蓝礼。我发誓保护他，失败了；我发誓替他复仇，也失败了；我跟随凯特琳夫人出走，结果又辜负了她。风向变化，雨水顺着脸颊流淌，汇成小溪。
Perhaps she had made a mistake in abandoning Ser Creighton and Ser Illifer. They had seemed like honest men. Would that Jaime had come with me, she thought … but he was a knight of the Kingsguard, his rightful place was with his king. Besides, it was Renly that she wanted. I swore I would protect him, and I failed. Then I swore I would avenge him, and I failed at that as well. I ran off with Lady Catelyn instead, and failed her too. The wind had shifted, and the rain was running down her face.
次日，路面缩减成一条鹅卵石窄道，到最后仅剩下一丝痕迹，接近正午时分，突然在一堵风蚀的悬崖下终止。悬崖上方，一个小城堡突兀地俯瞰着海浪，铅灰色天空映衬出三座歪歪扭扭的塔楼。“这就是轻语堡？”波德瑞克问。
The next day the road dwindled to a pebbled thread, and finally to a mere suggestion. Near midday, it came to an abrupt end at the foot of a wind-carved cliff. Above, a small castle stood frowning over the waves, its three crooked towers outlined against a leaden sky. “Is that the Whispers?” Podrick asked.
“这他妈的像废墟吗？”克莱勃啐了一口。“那是恐穴堡，老布伦大人的居城。但是路到此为止，从这儿往前只有松树与我们做伴。”
“That look a bloody ruin t’ you?” Crabb spat. “That’s the Dyre Den, where old Lord Brune keeps his seat. Road ends here, though. It’s the pines for us from here on.”
布蕾妮仔细观察悬崖，“怎么上去？”
Brienne studied the cliff. “How do we get up there?”
“简单，”机灵狄克拨转马头，“跟紧狄克就好。吧唧脚专抓掉队的人。”
“Easy.” Nimble Dick turned his horse. “Stay close t’ Dick. The squishers are apt t’ take the laggards.”
上坡的路原来隐藏在石缝之间，乃是一条陡峭嶙岣的石头小径，大部分是天然形成的，但时不时有凿刻出来的阶梯，使得攀登可以容易一点。周围尽是千百年来风化雨蚀的峻峭石壁，有些地方，岩石呈现出稀奇古怪的形状，很是奇妙——攀缘途中，机灵狄克依次指点。“那是食人魔的脑袋，看到没？”他说，布蕾妮露出微笑，“那是一条石头龙，一边翅膀在我父亲小时候就掉了。那是它的乳房，好像老太婆下垂的奶子。”他瞥了一眼她的胸口。
The way up proved to be a steep stony path hidden within a cleft in the rock. Most of it was natural, but here and there steps had been carved to ease the climb. Sheer walls of rock, eaten away by centuries of wind and spray, hemmed them in to either side. In some places they had assumed fantastic shapes. Nimble Dick pointed out a few as they climbed. “There’s an ogre’s head, see?” he said, and Brienne smiled when she saw it. “And that there’s a stone dragon. T’other wing fell off when my father was a boy. Above it, that’s the dugs drooping down, like some hag’s teats.” He glanced back at her own chest.
“爵士？小姐？”波德瑞克说，“有一个骑马的人。”
“Ser? My lady?” said Podrick. “There’s a rider.”
“哪里？”没有哪块岩石让她觉得像是骑马的人。
“Where?” None of the rocks suggested a rider to her.
“在路上。不是石头骑手。是真的骑手。跟在我们后面。在下面。”他指着说。
“On the road. Not a rock rider. A real rider. Following us. Down there.” He pointed.
布蕾妮在马鞍上扭转身。他们已经爬得相当高，可以看到沿岸方圆好几里格的情况。那个人骑马顺着他们的来路前进，只落后两三里。真的是陷阱？她怀疑地瞥向机灵狄克。
Brienne twisted in her saddle. They had climbed high enough to see for leagues along the shore. The horse was coming up the same road they had taken, two or three miles behind them. Again? She glanced at Nimble Dick suspiciously.
“别斜眼看我。”克莱勃说，“不管他是谁，跟机灵老狄克一点关系也没有。很可能是布伦的人，打仗回来。或许是个四处游荡的歌手。”他扭头啐了一口。“我能肯定他不是吧唧脚。那种东西不骑马。”
“Don’t squint at me,” Crabb said. “He’s naught t’ do with old Nimble Dick, whoever he is. Some man o’ Brune’s, most like, come back from the wars. Or one o’ them singers, wandering from place to place.” He turned his head and spat. “He’s no squisher, that’s bloody certain. Their sort don’t ride horses.”
“是的，”布蕾妮说。至少这一点大家都认同。
“No,” said Brienne. On that, at least, they could agree.
最后几百尺的攀登最为陡峭凶险。松动的鹅卵石在马蹄底下滚动，稀里哗啦沿着身后的石道坠落。当他们从石缝中钻出来时，已经位于城堡底下。一张脸凑在胸墙上探视，然后消失了。布蕾妮觉得那是个女人，她把想法告诉了机灵狄克。
The last hundred feet of the climb proved the steepest and most treacherous. Loose pebbles rolled beneath their horse’s hooves and went rattling down the stony path behind them. When they emerged from the cleft in the rock, they found themselves under the castle walls. On a parapet above, a face peered down at them, then vanished. Brienne thought it might have been a woman, and said as much to Nimble Dick.
他也同意。“布伦太老，爬不上城墙走道，而他的儿孙们参战去了。剩下的全是女人，外加个把流鼻涕的小孩。”
He agreed. “Brune’s too old to go climbing wallwalks, and his sons and grandsons went off to the wars. No one left in there but wenches, and a snot-nosed babe or three.”
她差点开口追问向导，布伦大人支持哪个国王，但这已经不重要了。布伦的儿子们不在，其中有些或许不会再回来。我们今晚得不到款待。一座满是老人、妇女和儿童的城堡几乎不可能为全副武装的陌生人打开大门。“你是不是认识布伦大人？”她问机灵狄克。
It was on her lips to ask her guide which king Lord Brune had espoused, but it made no matter any longer. Brune’s sons were gone; some might not be coming back. We will have no hospitality here tonight. A castle full of old men, women, and children was not like to open its doors to armed strangers. “You speak of Lord Brune as if you know him,” she said to Nimble Dick.
“以前认识，或许认识。”
“Might be I did, once.”
她瞥了一眼他上衣的胸口：松散的线头，有片参差不齐的区域布料颜色比较深，显然原本有个纹章，后来被撕了下来。她顿时明白自己的向导是个逃兵。那名骑手会不会是他的袍泽呢？
She glanced at the breast of his doublet. Loose threads and a ragged patch of darker fabric showed where some badge had been torn away. Her guide was a deserter, she did not doubt. Could the rider behind them be one of his brothers-in-arms?
“我们继续前进，”他催促，“否则布伦就会不放心了。你知道，女人也会用十字弓。”克莱勃指指耸立在城堡后面的石灰岩山岭，山坡上是一片树林。“从这里开始没有路，只能跟随溪流和猎物小径行进，但小姐你不用担心，机灵狄克熟悉这地方。”
“We should ride on,” he urged, “before Brune starts to wonder why we’re here beneath his walls. Even a wench can wind a bloody crossbow.” Dick gestured toward the limestone hills that rose beyond the castle, with their wooded slopes. “No more roads from here on, only streams and game trails, but m’lady need not fear. Nimble Dick knows these parts.”
这正是布蕾妮所担心的。风沿悬崖顶端一阵阵吹过，她嗅到陷阱的味道。“那骑手怎么办？”除非那匹马会在海浪中行走，否则他就是冲着悬崖而来的。
That was what Brienne was afraid of. The wind was gusting along the top of the cliff, but all she could smell was a trap. “What about that rider?” Unless his horse could walk on waves, he would soon be coming up the cliff.
“骑手怎么办？妈的，假如他是打女泉城来的笨蛋，绝不可能找到我们上山的小路。再说，即使给盯上了，我们也能在森林里甩掉他。明白吗？从这里开始，没有路了。”
“What about him? If he’s some fool from Maidenpool, he might not even find the bloody path. And if he does, we’ll lose him in the woods. He won’t have no road to follow there.”
只有我们的足迹。布蕾妮疑惑地盘算，是不是应该拿起武器，就在这里跟骑手决斗。如果他是流浪歌手或布伦大人的儿子呢？那我就成了个十足的傻瓜。她觉得克莱勃说的有些道理。如果到明天他仍跟在后面，我再对付他好了。“随便吧。”她一边说，一边拨转马头朝树林行去。
Only our tracks. Brienne wondered if it wouldn’t be better to meet the rider here, with her blade in hand. I’ll look an utter fool if it is a wandering singer or one of Lord Brune’s sons. Crabb had the right of it, she supposed. If he is still behind us on the morrow, I can deal with him then. “As you will,” she said, turning her mare toward the trees.
布伦大人的城堡在背后渐渐缩小，很快消失在视野中。哨兵树和士卒松耸立四周，仿佛高大的绿色长矛直刺天空。森林地面上铺着一层掉落的针叶，有城墙那么厚，点缀着松果，淹没了马蹄。雨下了又停，停了又下，但在松林里，几乎感觉不到雨点。
Lord Brune’s castle dwindled at their backs, and soon was lost to sight. Sentinels and soldier pines rose all around them, towering green-clad spears thrusting toward the sky. The forest floor was a bed of fallen needles as thick as a castle wall, littered with pinecones. The hooves of their horses seemed to make no sound. It rained a bit, stopped for a time, then started once again, but amongst the pines they scarce felt a drop.
森林里前进的速度也比较缓慢。布蕾妮催马在绿色幽影中穿行，拨开无数伸展的枝条。这里很容易迷路，她意识到，每个方向看上去都一样。连空气仿佛也是灰绿色的，寂静无声。松枝划过手臂，刺耳地刮擦着新漆的盾牌。随着时间推移，诡异的气氛让她越来越不安。
The going was much slower in the woods. Brienne prodded her mare through the green gloom, weaving in and out amongst the trees. It would be very easy to get lost here, she realized. Every way she looked appeared the same. The very air seemed grey and green and still. Pine boughs scratched against her arms and scraped noisily against her newly painted shield. The eerie stillness grated on her more with every passing hour.
机灵狄克似乎也有同样的困扰。眼看着夜幕逐渐逼近，他唱起歌来：“这只狗熊，狗熊，狗熊！全身黑棕，罩着毛绒……”他的嗓音像扎人的羊毛裤。松林吸走了歌声，犹如吸掉风和雨。不一会儿，他停下来。
It bothered Nimble Dick as well. Late that day, as dusk was coming on, he tried to sing. “A bear there was, a bear, a bear, all black and brown, and covered with hair,” he sang, his voice as scratchy as a pair of woolen breeches. The pines drank his song, as they drank the wind and rain. After a little while he stopped.
“这里不好，”波德瑞克说，“不是个好地方。”
“It’s bad here,” Podrick said. “This is a bad place.”
布蕾妮不愿意再加重旁人的负担，“松林阴森森的，但说到底也只是树林子罢了。没什么好怕的。”
Brienne felt the same, but it would not serve to admit it. “A pine wood is a gloomy place, but in the end it’s just a wood. There’s naught here that we need fear.”
“那吧唧脚呢？还有那些脑袋？”
“What about the squishers? And the heads?”
“真是个聪明孩子。”机灵狄克笑道。
“There’s a clever lad,” said Nimble Dick, laughing.
布蕾妮恼火地看了他一眼。“没有吧唧脚，”她告诉波德瑞克，“更没有什么脑袋。”
Brienne gave him a look of annoyance. “There are no squishers,” she told Podrick, “and no heads.”
山岭高低起伏。布蕾妮发现自己在祈祷机灵狄克的诚实，祈祷他真的知晓目的地。如果单凭她自己，甚至不定能再回到海边。无论白天黑夜，天空都布满浓密的灰色阴云，没有太阳和星星助她辨认方向。
The hills went up, the hills went down. Brienne found herself praying that Nimble Dick was honest, and knew where he was taking them. By herself, she was not even certain she could have found the sea again. Day or night, the sky was solid grey and overcast, with neither sun nor stars to help her find her way.
当晚，他们早早扎营，营地位于一座山岭之下，闪着绿光的沼泽边缘。在灰绿色反光中，前方的地面看起来相当坚实，但等骑过去，泥巴一直没到马肩。他们费尽九牛二虎之力才折回比较坚实的地方立足。“没关系，”克莱勃保证，“我们待会儿回山上去，然后换一个方向下来。”
They made camp early that night, after they came down a hill and found themselves on the edge of a glistening green bog. In the grey-green light, the ground ahead looked solid enough, but when they’d ridden out it had swallowed their horses up to their withers. They had to turn and fight their way back onto more solid footing. “It’s no matter,” Crabb assured them. “We’ll go back up the hill and come down another way.”
