Ⅲ 冰雨的风暴 Chapter17 艾莉亚

ARYA

雨水来了又去，天空阴霾不开，溪流统统高涨。第三天早上，艾莉亚注意到树下长苔藓的地方不对。“走错方向了，”骑过一颗苔藓茂密的榆树时，她对詹德利说，“我们在往南走。看到树下的苔藓了吗？”

The rains came and went, but there was more grey sky than blue, and all the streams were running high. On the morning of the third day, Arya noticed that the moss was growing mostly on the wrong side of the trees. “We’re going the wrong way,” she said to Gendry, as they rode past an especially mossy elm. “We’re going south. See how the moss is growing on the trunk?”

他将眼前浓密的黑发拨开，“我们顺着路走，仅此而已，这条路在此是往南。”

He pushed thick black hair from eyes and said, “We’re following the road, that’s all. The road goes south here.”

我们今天一直在往南走，她想告诉他，昨天也是，沿着河床骑行开始就在往南。但昨天她没注意苔藓，因此不大确定。“我想我们迷路了，”她低声说，“不该离开那条河的，沿着它走就好。”

We’ve been going south all day, she wanted to tell him. And yesterday too, when we were riding along that streambed. But she hadn’t been paying close attention yesterday, so she couldn’t be certain. “I think we’re lost,” she said in a low voice. “We shouldn’t have left the river. All we had to do was follow it.”

“那条河弯来拐去，”詹德利说，“我敢打赌，我们走的这条路是捷径，只有土匪才知道。你瞧，柠檬、汤姆他们在这儿住了许多年。”

“The river bends and loops,” said Gendry. “This is just a shorter way, I bet. Some secret outlaw way. Lem and Tom and them have been living here for years.”

这倒没错。艾莉亚咬紧嘴唇，“但苔藓……”

That was true. Arya bit her lip. “But the moss …”

“雨下得这样大，用不了多久，连耳朵里都会长出苔藓，”詹德利抱怨。

“The way it’s raining, we’ll have moss growing from our ears before long,” Gendry complained.

“那也只会长在朝南的耳朵里！”艾莉亚固执地申明。想说服大牛可不容易，但眼下热派离开了他们，他是她惟一真正的伙伴。

“Only from our south ear,” Arya declared stubbornly. There was no use trying to convince the Bull of anything. Still, he was the only true friend she had, now that Hot Pie had left them.

“沙玛要我为她烤面包，”离别那天，他告诉她，“不管怎么说，我厌倦了下雨和屁股酸痛地骑马，也厌倦了老是担惊受怕。这里不仅有麦酒，有兔子肉，我还会把面包做得很好，你们等着瞧吧，下次回来就知道了。你们会回来，对吗？等战争结束之后？”他忽然记起她是谁，涨红了脸补充道，“小姐。”

“Sharna says she needs me to bake bread,” he’d told her, the day they rode. “Anyhow I’m tired of rain and saddlesores and being scared all the time. There’s ale here, and rabbit to eat, and the bread will be better when I make it. You’ll see, when you come back. You will come back, won’t you? When the war’s done?” He remembered who she was then, and added, “My lady,” reddening.

艾莉亚不知战争是否有结束的那一天，但她点点头。“很抱歉那次打了你，”她道。热派虽然又蠢又胆小，但从君临城一路跟着她，几乎从未分离。“我打断了你的鼻子。”

Arya didn’t know if the war would ever be done, but she had nodded. “I’m sorry I beat you that time,” she said. Hot Pie was stupid and craven, but he’d been with her all the way from King’s Landing and she’d gotten used to him. “I broke your nose.”

“你也打断了柠檬的。”热派咧嘴笑道，“真带劲。”

“You broke Lem’s too.” Hot Pie grinned. “That was good.”

“柠檬可不这么想，”艾莉亚阴郁地说。到了出发时间，热派请求亲吻“小姐”的手，她拍拍他肩膀。“别这么叫我。你是热派，我是阿利。”

“Lem didn’t think so,” Arya said glumly. Then it was time to go. When Hot Pie asked if he might kiss milady’s hand, she punched his shoulder. “Don’t call me that. You’re Hot Pie, and I’m Arry.”

“在这儿，我不叫热派了。莎玛叫我‘小子’，跟叫那个她收养的男孩一样，我总弄不清她到底指谁。”

“I’m not Hot Pie here. Sharna just calls me Boy. The same as she calls the other boy. It’s going to be confusing.”

之后，艾莉亚发觉自己莫名地想念他，好在还有哈尔温。她把胡伦的事对哈尔温说了，逃离红堡那天，她在马厩门边发现奄奄一息的马房总管。“唉，他常说自己会在马厩里过世，”哈尔温道，“我们都担心他到头来会断送在坏脾气的马脚下，想不到下手的却是狮子。”艾莉亚还把尤伦的事，逃出君临的事，以及其他许多经过都向对方倾诉，但留出她用缝衣针杀死马房小弟和割赫伦堡守卫喉咙的部分没有讲——跟哈尔温讲故事就跟和父亲讲故事差不多，有些事是不能坦白的。

She missed him more than she thought she would, but Harwin made up for it some. She had told him about his father Hullen, and how she’d found him dying by the stables in the Red Keep, the day she fled. “He always said he’d die in a stable,” Harwin said, “but we all thought some bad-tempered stallion would be his death, not a pack of lions.” Arya told of Yoren and their escape from King’s Landing as well, and much that had happened since, but she left out the stableboy she’d stabbed with Needle, and the guard whose throat she’d cut to get out of Harrenhal. Telling Harwin would be almost like telling her father, and there were some things that she could not bear having her father know.

她也没有提及贾昆·赫加尔，以及兑现的三个死亡承诺。他给的硬币艾莉亚一直藏在腰带下，有时候，她会在晚上拿出来，回想他如何将手抹过脸庞，面容融合变化。“valarmorghulis，”她轻声开始，“格雷果爵士，邓森，波利佛，‘甜嘴’拉夫。记事本和猎狗。伊林爵士，马林爵士，瑟曦太后，乔佛里国王。”

Nor did she speak of Jaqen H’ghar and the three deaths he’d owed and paid. The iron coin he’d given her Arya kept tucked away beneath her belt, but sometimes at night she would take it out and remember how his face had melted and changed when he ran his hand across it. “Valar morghulis,” she would say under her breath. “Ser Gregor, Dunsen, Polliver, Raff the Sweetling. The Tickler and the Hound. Ser Ilyn, Ser Meryn, Queen Cersei, King Joffrey.”

哈尔温告诉她，当初由父亲派出，随贝里·唐德利恩伯爵制裁格雷果爵士的二十名临冬城侍卫后来只活了六个，而且还都走散了。“那是个陷阱，小姐。泰温公爵派魔山越过红叉河来杀人放火，希望能引出您父亲大人。他料定艾德公爵会亲自西进对付格雷果·克里冈。好在弑君者不知泰温公爵的计划，听说弟弟被抓的消息后，即刻就在君临城中当街攻击您父亲。”

Only six Winterfell men remained of the twenty her father had sent west with Beric Dondarrion, Harwin told her, and they were scattered. “It was a trap, milady. Lord Tywin sent his Mountain across the Red Fork with fire and sword, hoping to draw your lord father. He planned for Lord Eddard to come west himself to deal with Gregor Clegane. If he had he would have been killed, or taken prisoner and traded for the Imp, who was your lady mother’s captive at the time. Only the Kingslayer never knew Lord Tywin’s plan, and when he heard about his brother’s capture he attacked your father in the streets of King’s Landing.”

“我记得那件事，”艾莉亚说，“他把乔里杀了。”除了少数被她惹火的时候，乔里对她总是笑口常开。

“I remember,” said Arya. “He killed Jory.” Jory had always smiled at her, when he wasn’t telling her to get from underfoot.

“他杀了乔里，”哈尔温赞同，“还用马撞倒你父亲，撞断了他的腿，因此艾德大人无法亲自出动，只好派贝里大人去，但为对方增派了二十名临冬城的侍卫，我便是其中之一。去的人还包括索罗斯、雷蒙·戴瑞爵士、葛拉登·威尔德爵士以及一个叫罗沙·马勒里的男爵。格雷果在戏子滩等着我们，人马埋伏在两岸，只待我们过河，便从前后两方发动攻击。”

“He killed Jory,” Harwin agreed, “and your father’s leg was broken when his horse fell on him. So Lord Eddard couldn’t go west. He sent Lord Beric instead, with twenty of his own men and twenty from Winterfell, me among them. There were others besides. Thoros and Ser Raymun Darry and their men, Ser Gladden Wylde, a lord named Lothar Mallery. But Gregor was waiting for us at the Mummer’s Ford, with men concealed on both banks. As we crossed he fell upon us from front and rear.

“我亲眼目睹魔山一击就杀死雷蒙·戴瑞，那一击实在太可怕，不仅把戴瑞的手臂连肘砍断，还毙了他胯下的马。葛拉登·威尔德也战死在那儿，马勒里男爵则撞在河中淹死。狮子从四面八方围过来，我以为自己铁定没命，危急时刻，埃林大声发号施令，恢复了秩序。我们群聚在索罗斯周围，冲出一条血路。出发时的一百二十人中，到天黑只剩不到四十个，贝里伯爵也身负重伤。那天晚上，索罗斯从他胸口拔出一尺长的枪头，将煮沸的葡萄酒灌进空洞里。”

“I saw the Mountain slay Raymun Darry with a single blow so terrible that it took Darry’s arm off at the elbow and killed the horse beneath him too. Gladden Wylde died there with him, and Lord Mallery was ridden down and drowned. We had lions on every side, and I thought I was doomed with the rest, but Alyn shouted commands and restored order to our ranks, and those still ahorse rallied around Thoros and cut our way free. Six score we’d been that morning. By dark no more than two score were left, and Lord Beric was gravely wounded. Thoros drew a foot of lance from his chest that night, and poured boiling wine into the hole it left.

“我们每个人都确信天亮时伯爵大人会死，但索罗斯在火堆边陪他祈祷了一整夜，黎明时，他竟活了过来，而且比前晚更强壮。虽然再过两个星期才能骑马，但他的勇气鼓舞了我们。他说，戏子滩不是结束，而是开始，每一位牺牲者，都将获得十倍的复仇。”

“Every man of us was certain his lordship would be dead by daybreak. But Thoros prayed with him all night beside the fire, and when dawn came, he was still alive, and stronger than he’d been. It was a fortnight before he could mount a horse, but his courage kept us strong. He told us that our war had not ended at the Mummer’s Ford, but only begun there, and that every man of ours who’d fallen would be avenged tenfold.

“当时我们无法再战。魔山只是泰温公爵的前锋，随后兰尼斯特军队便大举越过红叉河，席卷三河流域，途中烧杀掳掠。我们人少，只能骚扰对方，但彼此承诺，等劳勃国王西征，镇压泰温公爵的叛乱，便起兵与之汇合。后来传来的消息却是劳勃死了，艾德公爵也死了，瑟曦·兰尼斯特的小崽子登上铁王座。”

“By then the fighting had passed by us. The Mountain’s men were only the van of Lord Tywin’s host. They crossed the Red Fork in strength and swept up into the riverlands, burning everything in their path. We were so few that all we could do was harry their rear, but we told each other that we’d join up with King Robert when he marched west to crush Lord Tywin’s rebellion. Only then we heard that Robert was dead, and Lord Eddard as well, and Cersei Lannister’s whelp had ascended the Iron Throne.

“整个世界颠倒失序。你瞧，我们是御前首相派去对付叛徒的队伍，到头来自己竟成了叛徒，而泰温公爵当上御前首相。有些人想请求招安，但贝里伯爵不同意。‘我们是国王的人，’他如此声明，‘而狮子们残害着国王的子民。若不能为劳勃而战，就为他们而战，至死方休。’我们就是这么做的，日子一天天过去，奇怪的事逐渐发生。我们每损失一个，就会出现更多人顶替他的位置。有些是骑士或侍从，出身名门世家，但多数是平民，包括农民、提琴手、客栈老板、仆人、鞋匠，甚至还有两个修士。形形色色的男人，女人，孩子，狗……”

“That turned the whole world on its head. We’d been sent out by the King’s Hand to deal with outlaws, you see, but now we were the outlaws, and Lord Tywin was the Hand of the King. There was some wanted to yield then, but Lord Beric wouldn’t hear of it. We were still king’s men, he said, and these were the king’s people the lions were savaging. If we could not fight for Robert, we would fight for them, until every man of us was dead. And so we did, but as we fought something queer happened. For every man we lost, two showed up to take his place. A few were knights or squires, of gentle birth, but most were common men—fieldhands and fiddlers and innkeeps, servants and shoemakers, even two septons. Men of all sorts, and women too, children, dogs …”

“狗？”艾莉亚诧异地问。

“Dogs?” said Arya.

“对。”哈尔温咧嘴笑道，“有个小伙子养着全世界最凶狠的狗，你简直无法想象。”

“Aye.” Harwin grinned. “One of our lads keeps the meanest dogs you’d ever want to see.”

“我要是有条凶狠的狗就好了，”艾莉亚向往地说，“一条能杀狮子的狗。”她有过一头冰原狼，名叫娜梅莉亚，但为了保护她不被王后杀掉，她朝她扔石头，把她赶跑了。冰原狼可以杀死狮子吗？她心里纳闷。

“I wish I had a good mean dog,” said Arya wistfully. “A lion-killing dog.” She’d had a direwolf once, Nymeria, but she’d thrown rocks at her until she fled, to keep the queen from killing her. Could a direwolf kill a lion? she wondered.

当天下午又开始下雨，一直下到晚上。幸亏土匪们到处都有朋友，无需在野外扎营或在漏水的凉亭下寻求遮蔽——从前她跟热派和詹德利常这样。

It rained again that afternoon, and long into the evening. Thankfully the outlaws had secret friends all over, so they did not need to camp out in the open or seek shelter beneath some leaky bower, as she and Hot Pie and Gendry had done so often.

他们在一个被焚毁的废弃村落中住宿。它看起来是被“废弃”了，但等“幸运杰克”拿出猎号吹奏，两短两长，各种各样的人就从废墟和地窖中爬出来。他们带来麦酒、干苹果和一些不新鲜的大麦面包，土匪们则提供了一只安盖半路射到的鹅，因此晚餐几乎是一场盛宴。

That night they sheltered in a burned, abandoned village. At least it seemed to be abandoned, until Jack-Be-Lucky blew two short blasts and two long ones on his hunting horn. Then all sorts of people came crawling out of the ruins and up from secret cellars. They had ale and dried apples and some stale barley bread, and the outlaws had a goose that Anguy had brought down on the ride, so supper that night was almost a feast.

艾莉亚正咂着一根翅膀上最后一点肉，只见一位村民转身对柠檬斗篷说，“不到两天前，有些人打这儿经过，去寻找弑君者。”

Arya was sucking the last bit of meat off a wing when one of the villagers turned to Lem Lemoncloak and said, “There were men through here not two days past, looking for the Kingslayer.”

柠檬哼了一声。“他们该去奔流城。那最深的地牢里，潮湿阴冷，很是舒服。”他的鼻子看上去象压碎的苹果，伤口没好，又红又肿，他的情绪也很糟糕。

Lem snorted. “They’d do better looking in Riverrun. Down in the deepest dungeons, where it’s nice and damp.” His nose looked like a squashed apple, red and raw and swollen, and his mood was foul.

“不对，”另一位村民说，“他逃跑了。”

“No,” another villager said. “He’s escaped.”

弑君者跑了？艾莉亚汗毛直竖。于是她屏息聆听。

The Kingslayer. Arya could feel the hair on the back of her neck prickling. She held her breath to listen.

“真的？”七弦汤姆问。

“Could that be true?” Tom o’ Sevens said.

“俺才不信咧，”戴生锈半盔的独眼人说，人称他为“幸运杰克”，尽管在艾莉亚看来，失去一只眼睛似乎不算幸运。“俺在那地牢里待过，不可能跑的。”

“I’ll not believe it,” said the one-eyed man in the rusty pothelm. The other outlaws called him Jack-Be-Lucky, though losing an eye didn’t seem very lucky to Arya. “I’ve had me a taste o’ them dungeons. How could he escape?”

村民们耸耸肩。“绿胡子”抚摸着灰绿相间的浓密分叉胡，“反正，假如弑君者真跑了，狼仔们铁定大开杀戒。这情况得通报索罗斯，希望光之王会让他在圣火之中预见兰尼斯特的动向。”

The villagers could only shrug at that. Greenbeard stroked his thick grey-and-green whiskers and said, “The wolves will drown in blood if the Kingslayer’s loose again. Thoros must be told. The Lord of Light will show him Lannister in the flames.”

“这儿就有火，”安盖微笑。

“There’s a fine fire burning here,” said Anguy, smiling.

绿胡子哈哈大笑，一边拎住弓箭手的耳朵根。“妈的，你觉得我看起来像和尚吗，射手？你要泰洛西的佩罗盯着火瞅，除非想烤焦他的胡子！”

Greenbeard laughed, and cuffed the archer’s ear. “Do I look a priest to you, Archer? When Pello of Tyrosh peers into the fire, the cinders singe his beard.”

柠檬将指节捏得“嗒嗒”作响，“贝里大人不是很想抓詹姆·兰尼斯特吗？这是个好机……”

Lem cracked his knuckles and said, “Wouldn’t Lord Beric love to capture Jaime Lannister, though …”

“他会不会吊死他，柠檬？”一个村妇问，“吊死这么一个俊俏家伙，多少有点可惜啊。”

“Would he hang him, Lem?” one of the village women asked. “It’d be half a shame to hang a man as pretty as that one.”

“先审判！”安盖说，“贝里大人总是先审判，规矩你们都知道。”他微笑道。“再上吊。”

“A trial first!” said Anguy. “Lord Beric always gives them a trial, you know that.” He smiled. “Then he hangs them.”

大家哄堂大笑。汤姆弹起木竖琴，低声歌唱：

There was laughter all around. Then Tom drew his fingers across the strings of his woodharp and broke into soft song.

流浪的御林兄弟会啊，

The brothers of the Kingswood,

他们说我们是贼。

they were an outlaw band.

拿森林当城堡，

The forest was their castle,

走大地四海为家。

but they roamed across the land.

没有金子逃得过我们的刀枪，

No man’s gold was safe from them,

没有少女逃得出我们的手掌。

nor any maiden’s hand.

噢，流浪的御林兄弟会啊，

Oh, the brothers of the Kingswood,

谁人见了都怕……

that fearsome outlaw band …

艾莉亚在詹德利和哈尔温之间干燥温暖的角落里听了一会儿歌，便合上眼渐渐睡着了。她梦见了家乡，不是奔流城，而是临冬城，但这并不是一个好梦。她梦见自己独站在城堡外，泥浆直没到膝盖，灰色的城墙就在前方，但当她向城门走去，每一步都比前一步更艰难，城堡在眼前变淡，好似那并非花岗岩，而是烟雾。周围还有狼，细瘦的灰色身形在林木间穿梭，眼睛闪闪发光。无论何时，只要望向它们，她都忆起鲜血的滋味。

Warm and dry in a corner between Gendry and Harwin, Arya listened to the singing for a time, then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. She dreamt of home; not Riverrun, but Winterfell. It was not a good dream, though. She was alone outside the castle, up to her knees in mud. She could see the grey walls ahead of her, but when she tried to reach the gates every step seemed harder than the one before, and the castle faded before her, until it looked more like smoke than granite. And there were wolves as well, gaunt grey shapes stalking through the trees all around her, their eyes shining. Whenever she looked at them, she remembered the taste of blood.

第二天早晨，队伍离开道路，穿越原野。风，不停地刮，棕色的枯叶在周围旋转，但这次没有下雨，太阳从云朵后钻出来，明亮耀眼，以至于艾莉亚不得不拉起兜帽，遮住眼睛。

The next morning they left the road to cut across the fields. The wind was gusting, sending dry brown leaves swirling around the hooves of their horses, but for once it did not rain. When the sun came out from behind a cloud, it was so bright Arya had to pull her hood forward to keep it out of her eyes.

她突然勒马，“走错方向了！”

She reined up very suddenly. “We are going the wrong way!”

詹德利哼了一声，“怎么，又是苔藓？”

Gendry groaned. “What is it, moss again?”

“看那太阳，”她道，“我们在往南走！”艾莉亚从鞍囊里取出地图，好让他们看。“我们不该离开三叉戟河的，你们看。”她把地图在腿上展开，所有人都盯着她，“看这里，这就是奔流城，它在两条河之间。”

“Look at the sun,” she said. “We’re going south!” Arya rummaged in her saddlebag for the map, so she could show them. “We should never have left the Trident. See.” She unrolled the map on her leg. All of them were looking at her now. “See, there’s Riverrun, between the rivers.”

“说得没错，”幸运杰克道，“我们知道奔流城在哪儿，每个人都知道。”

“As it happens,” said Jack-Be-Lucky, “we know where Riverrun is. Every man o’ us.”

“我们不去奔流城，”柠檬坦白。

“You’re not going to Riverrun,” Lem told her bluntly.

我差一点就到了，艾莉亚心想，早知道就把马给他们，自己走着去。她想起昨晚的梦，不由得咬紧嘴唇。

I was almost there, Arya thought. I should have let them take our horses. I could have walked the rest of the way. She remembered her dream then, and bit her lip.

“啊，别伤心啊，孩子，”七弦汤姆说，“你不会受到伤害的，我向你保证。”

“Ah, don’t look so hurt, child,” said Tom Sevenstrings. “No harm will come to you, you have my word on that.”

“你是个骗子！”

“The word of a liar!”

“没人在骗你，”柠檬道，“我们本就没承诺什么，如何处置你，我们是作不了主的。”

“No one lied,” said Lem. “We made no promises. It’s not for us to say what’s to be done with you.”

没错，柠檬跟汤姆一样，并非首领，这伙人的头目是泰洛西人佩罗。艾莉亚转过来面对他。“带我去奔流城，重重有赏，”她孤注一掷地说。

Lem was not the leader, though, no more than Tom; that was Greenbeard, the Tyroshi. Arya turned to face him. “Take me to Riverrun and you’ll be rewarded,” she said desperately.

“小家伙，”绿胡子答道，“寻常松鼠若教农夫抓住，逃不过剥皮下锅的命运，但若他逮住的是金松鼠，就得乖乖献给领主，否则将来会倒大霉的。”

“Little one,” Greenbeard answered, “a peasant may skin a common squirrel for his pot, but if he finds a gold squirrel in his tree he takes it to his lord, or he will wish he did.”

“我不是松鼠，”艾莉亚坚持。

“I’m not a squirrel,” Arya insisted.

“谁说不是？”绿胡子哈哈大笑，“你是一只快被献到闪电大王驾前的金色小松鼠，不管是否情愿。别担心，他知道如何处置你，我打赌他会如你的愿把你送回母亲大人身边。”

“You are.” Greenbeard laughed. “A little gold squirrel who’s off to see the lightning lord, whether she wills it or not. He’ll know what’s to be done with you. I’ll wager he sends you back to your lady mother, just as you wish.”

七弦汤姆点点头。“对，贝里伯爵是个好人。他会妥善处理你的，走着瞧吧。”

Tom Sevenstrings nodded. “Aye, that’s like Lord Beric. He’ll do right by you, see if he don’t.”

贝里·唐德利恩伯爵。艾莉亚忆起从前在赫伦堡时从兰尼斯特的士兵和血戏子们那儿听到的故事。他们说他是森林中的幽灵，说他曾被瓦格·赫特杀死，被亚摩利·洛奇爵士杀死，魔山更是杀死过他两次。管他的，他不把我送回家，我也会杀死他。“凭什么要我去见贝里伯爵？”她平静地问。

Lord Beric Dondarrion. Arya remembered all she’d heard at Harrenhal, from the Lannisters and the Bloody Mummers alike. Lord Beric the wisp o’ the wood. Lord Beric who’d been killed by Vargo Hoat and before that by Ser Amory Lorch, and twice by the Mountain That Rides. If he won’t send me home maybe I’ll kill him too. “Why do I have to see Lord Beric?” she asked quietly.

“我们把所有贵族俘虏都带给他处理，”安盖道。

“We bring him all our highborn captives,” said Anguy.

俘虏。艾莉亚深吸一口气，以稳定心绪。止如水。她瞥瞥骑马的土匪们，默然调转坐骑。迅如蛇。她一边想，一边用脚后跟猛踢马腹，从绿胡子和幸运杰克中间飞奔而去。詹德利的母马从面前一闪而过，她看到男孩脸上震惊的表情，随后便置身于旷野之中狂奔。

Captive. Arya took a breath to still her soul. Calm as still water. She glanced at the outlaws on their horses, and turned her horse’s head. Now, quick as a snake, she thought, as she slammed her heels into the courser’s flank. Right between Greenbeard and Jack-Be-Lucky she flew, and caught one glimpse of Gendry’s startled face as his mare moved out of her way. And then she was in the open field, and running.

现在东西南北并不重要。等甩掉他们，自然可以慢慢去找到奔流城的路。艾莉亚倾身向前，敦促马儿快跑。土匪们在身后咒骂，叫嚣着要她回去，但她充耳不闻。良久，她回头一望，只见四个人追了上来，安盖、哈尔温和绿胡子并肩奔驰，柠檬则落后一点，巨大的黄斗篷在身后飞舞。“疾如鹿，”她告诉她的座骑，“快，快，快跑。”

North or south, east or west, that made no matter now. She could find the way to Riverrun later, once she’d lost them. Arya leaned forward in the saddle and urged the horse to a gallop. Behind her the outlaws were cursing and shouting at her to come back. She shut her ears to the calls, but when she glanced back over her shoulder four of them were coming after her, Anguy and Harwin and Greenbeard racing side by side with Lem farther back, his big yellow cloak flapping behind him as he rode. “Swift as a deer,” she told her mount. “Run, now, run.”

艾莉亚在杂草丛生的褐色原野中驰骋，穿过齐腰高的草丛和堆堆枯叶，飞扬的马蹄激起翻飞枯叶。右手是树林，我可以在那儿甩掉他们。原野边沿有条干涸沟渠，她半步未停，飞跃而过，一头扎进榆树、衫木和桦树丛中。她偷偷往后瞧，发现安盖和哈尔温仍奋力紧跟，绿胡子已经落后，柠檬则根本看不到了。“快，再快点，”她告诉她的马，“你能行，你能行的！”

Arya dashed across brown weedy fields, through waist-high grass and piles of dry leaves that flurried and flew when her horse galloped past. There were woods to her left, she saw. I can lose them there. A dry ditch ran along one side of the field, but she leapt it without breaking stride, and plunged in among the stand of elm and yew and birch trees. A quick peek back showed Anguy and Harwin still hard on her heels. Greenbeard had fallen behind, though, and she could not see Lem at all. “Faster,” she told her horse, “you can, you can.”

她从两棵榆树间穿过，丝毫不在意苔藓长在哪边。随后又跃过一段朽木，远远绕开一棵倾倒的巨大枯树，断裂的枝杈从枯树中间伸出来。上了一个缓坡，又从另一侧下去，减速，加速，马蹄与硬石相击，溅出点点火花。登上小山，她再度向后瞥去。此时哈尔温已领先安盖，两人都在努力。绿胡子则越跑越慢，似乎快放弃了。

Between two elms she rode, and never paused to see which side the moss was growing on. She leapt a rotten log and swung wide around a monstrous deadfall, jagged with broken branches. Then up a gentle slope and down the other side, slowing and speeding up again, her horse’s shoes striking sparks off the flintstones underfoot. At the top of the hill she glanced back. Harwin had pushed ahead of Anguy, but both were coming hard. Greenbeard had fallen further back and seemed to be flagging.

一条小河挡在面前，她纵马踏进，淌过充塞棕色湿叶的流水，上岸时，不少叶子沾在马腿上。此处灌木较浓密，地上满是树根和石块，不得不减慢速度，但她仍不停地催促马儿。面前出现另一座小山，这座更陡峭。她爬上去，从另一面下来。树林究竟有多大？她疑惑地想。她知道自己的坐骑比较快，因为它是赫伦堡卢斯·波顿的马厩里最好的马之一，但速度在这儿派不上用场。我得返回平原，找到道路。她找了半天，却只发现一条猎人小径，狭窄又崎岖，但好歹比没有强。她沿着小径开跑，任凭树枝抽打脸颊，一根枝条勾住兜帽，将其掠到后面，片刻之间，她好害怕自己会被打下马来。有只狐狸被狂野的奔驰所惊扰，从灌木丛中窜出。小径将她带到另一条小河边。还是同一条河？莫非我在原地打转？没时间多想，马蹄声从身后传来。再往后，她的脸被荆棘划破，她知道自己一定像以前在君临追赶的那些猫一样难看。麻雀从桤木枝头飞散。树木变得稀疏，突然之间，她便走出了森林，宽阔平坦的原野在眼前展开，布满遭到践踏的湿草和野麦。艾莉亚踢马飞驰。跑啊！她心想，跑到奔流城，跑回家去！甩掉他们了吗？她飞快地向后一看，天！哈尔温只差了六码，而且还在接近中。不，她绝望地想，不，他不能，不该是他，这不公平。

A stream barred her way. She splashed down into it, through water choked with wet brown leaves. Some clung to her horse’s legs as they climbed the other side. The undergrowth was thicker here, the ground so full of roots and rocks that she had to slow, but she kept as good a pace as she dared. Another hill before her, this one steeper. Up she went, and down again. How big are these woods? she wondered. She had the faster horse, she knew that, she had stolen one of Roose Bolton’s best from the stables at Harrenhal, but his speed was wasted here. I need to find the fields again. I need to find a road. Instead she found a game trail. It was narrow and uneven, but it was something. She raced along it, branches whipping at her face. One snagged her hood and yanked it back, and for half a heartbeat she feared they had caught her. A vixen burst from the brush as she passed, startled by the fury of her flight. The game trail brought her to another stream. Or was it the same one? Had she gotten turned around? There was no time to puzzle it out, she could hear their horses crashing through the trees behind her. Thorns scratched at her face like the cats she used to chase in King’s Landing. Sparrows exploded from the branches of an alder. But the trees were thinning now, and suddenly she was out of them. Broad level fields stretched before her, all weeds and wild wheat, sodden and trampled. Arya kicked her horse back to a gallop. Run, she thought, run for Riverrun, run for home. Had she lost them? She took one quick look, and there was Harwin six yards back and gaining. No, she thought, no, he can’t, not him, it isn’t fair.

等他赶上时，两匹马都浑身是汗，近乎虚脱。他伸手抓住她的缰绳。艾莉亚自己也气喘吁吁，她知道没希望了。“你骑起马来像一个堂堂正正的北方人，小姐，”哈尔温边说边将两马都勒住，“和你姑姑莱安娜小姐一样。但你别忘记，我父亲是马房总管。”

Both horses were lathered and flagging by the time he came up beside her, reached over, and grabbed her bridle. Arya was breathing hard herself then. She knew the fight was done. “You ride like a northman, milady,” Harwin said when he’d drawn them to a halt. “Your aunt was the same. Lady Lyanna. But my father was master of horse, remember.”

她用受伤的眼神看着他，“我以为你是我父亲的人。”

The look she gave him was full of hurt. “I thought you were my father’s man.”

“艾德大人死了，小姐。我现在属于闪电大王，属于我的弟兄们。”

“Lord Eddard’s dead, milady. I belong to the lightning lord now, and to my brothers.”

“你的弟兄们？”艾莉亚不记得老胡伦还有其他儿子。

“What brothers?” Old Hullen had fathered no other sons that Arya could remember.

“安盖、柠檬、七弦汤姆、杰克、绿胡子……他们所有人。我们对你哥哥罗柏没有恶意，小姐……但并非为他而战。他有自己的军队，还有许多大诸侯，而老百姓们只有我们。”他打量着她，“你明白吗？”

“Anguy, Lem, Tom o’ Sevens, Jack and Greenbeard, all of them. We mean your brother Robb no ill, milady … but it’s not him we fight for. He has an army all his own, and many a great lord to bend the knee. The smallfolk have only us.” He gave her a searching look. “Can you understand what I am telling you?”

“我明白。”没错，我明白了，他不是罗柏的人，而我是他的俘虏。早知道当初就跟热派一起留下，没准可以偷那条小船，向上游航行到奔流城；早知道当乳鸽就好，乳鸽、娜娜、黄鼠狼或无父无母的小男孩阿利都不会有人来追。我曾经是头狼，她想，现在又变回那个愚蠢的小姐。

“Yes.” That he was not Robb’s man, she understood well enough. And that she was his captive. I could have stayed with Hot Pie. We could have taken the little boat and sailed it up to Riverrun. She had been better off as Squab. No one would take Squab captive, or Nan, or Weasel, or Arry the orphan boy. I was a wolf, she thought, but now I’m just some stupid little lady again.

“你要不要乖乖回去，”哈尔温问她，“还是要我把你绑起来，横放在马背上？”

“Will you ride back peaceful now,” Harwin asked her, “or must I tie you up and throw you across your horse?”

“我会回去，”她怏怏地说。只好暂时如此。

“I’ll ride peaceful,” she said sullenly. For now.