Chapter 第六章 商人的随从（昆汀一）
THE MERCHANT’S MAN
冒险号上臭气熏天。
Adventure stank.
她宣称六十只船桨，单桅帆，和细长的船身能够保证它的高速。小，但应该够用了，这是昆廷刚看到她时的想法，但那是在他登上她的甲板感受到她难闻的气味之前的想法。猪，这是他最开始想到的，但嗅了第二下之后他改变了判断。猪的气味也要比这清新。这种臭味像是尿，烂肉和粪便发出的，像来自尸体的腐臭，流脓的恶疮和溃烂的伤口，气味如此强烈，完全盖过盖了海港中咸湿的空气和鱼腥的味道。
She boasted sixty oars, a single sail, and a long lean hull that promised speed. Small, but she might serve, Quentyn thought when he saw her, but that was before he went aboard and got a good whiff of her. Pigs, was his first thought, but after a second sniff he changed his mind. Pigs had a cleaner smell. This stink was piss and rotting meat and nightsoil, this was the reek of corpse flesh and weeping sores and wounds gone bad, so strong that it overwhelmed the salt air and fish smell of the harbor.
“我要吐了，”他对格里斯·酌水说。他们正等待着船主的出现，在高温的烘烤下，脚底的甲板蒸腾着臭气。
“I want to retch,” he said to Gerris Drinkwater. They were waiting for the ship’s master to appear, sweltering in the heat as the stench wafted up from the deck beneath them.
“如果船长闻起来和他的船差不多的话，他可能会误以为你喷出来的是香水，”格里斯回答。
“If the captain smells anything like his ship, he may mistake your vomit for perfume,” Gerris replied.
昆廷正打算建议他们换条别的船试试时，船主终于露面了，身边跟着两个面目狰狞的船员。格里斯面带微笑地问候他。尽管他的瓦兰提斯语没有昆廷好，但在他们计划中必须由他当发言人。原本在板条镇时昆廷扮演成酒商，但那可笑的表演惹恼了他，所以当多恩人在里斯换船时，他们也交换了角色。搭乘野云雀号时，克莱图斯·伊伦伍德成了商人，昆廷是仆人；克莱图斯在瓦兰提斯遇害后，格里斯继续扮演主人的角色。
Quentyn was about to suggest that they try another ship when the master finally made his appearance, with two vile-looking crewmen at his side. Gerris greeted him with a smile. Though he did not speak the Volantene tongue as well as Quentyn, their ruse required that he speak for them. Back in the Planky Town Quentyn had played the wineseller, but the mummery had chafed at him, so when the Dornishmen changed ships at Lys they had changed roles as well. Aboard the Meadowlark, Cletus Yronwood became the merchant, Quentyn the servant; in Volantis, with Cletus slain, Gerris had assumed the master’s role.
高大而白皙，蓝绿色的眼睛，浅棕色的头发被阳光照得闪亮，精干而英俊的身体，格里斯·酌水大摇大摆地走向他，带着近乎傲慢的自信。他从来不会显得拘束，即使他不会讲这种语言时，他也有办法让自己被人理解。昆廷比起来就要差了一截——短腿而粗壮，新翻泥土似的棕色的头发。他额头太高了，他的下巴太方，他的鼻子太宽。一张善良诚实的脸，一位女孩曾经这样说它，但你应该多微笑。
Tall and fair, with blue-green eyes, sandy hair streaked by the sun, and a lean and comely body, Gerris Drinkwater had a swagger to him, a confidence bordering on arrogance. He never seemed ill at ease, and even when he did not speak the language, he had ways of making himself understood. Quentyn cut a poor figure by comparison—short-legged and stocky, thickly built, with hair the brown of new-turned earth. His forehead was too high, his jaw too square, his nose too broad. A good honest face, a girl had called it once, but you should smile more.
昆廷·马泰尔从不轻易笑，比他的父亲大人更甚。
Smiles had never come easily for Quentyn Martell, any more than they did for his lord father.
“你的冒险号有多快？”格里斯用一种磕磕绊绊差不多近似的高等瓦雷利亚语问道。
“How swift is your Adventure?” Gerris said, in a halting approximation of High Valyrian.
冒险号的主人认出了口音，用维斯特洛通用语回答。“没有更快的了，尊贵的大人。冒险号快得能追上风。告诉我你想去哪，我马上就把你到那儿。”
The Adventure’s master recognized the accent and responded in the Common Tongue of Westeros. “There is none swifter, honored lord. Adventure can run down the wind itself. Tell me where you wish to sail, and swiftly I shall bring you there.”
“我和两个随从想搭船去弥林。”
“I seek passage to Meereen for myself and two servants.”
这话令船长变得犹豫。“我对去弥林不算陌生。我能再次找到那座城市，呃…但为什么？ 在弥林不再有奴隶了，那里挣不到钱。银发女王终结了那个。她甚至已经关闭了角斗场，如此一来，当一个可怜的水手在等待填满他的货仓时，甚至没法给自己找些乐子。告诉我，我的维斯特洛朋友，弥林有什么东西吸引你去那里？”
That gave the captain pause. “I am no stranger to Meereen. I could find the city again, aye … but why? There are no slaves to be had in Meereen, no profit to be found there. The silver queen has put an end to that. She has even closed the fighting pits, so a poor sailor cannot even amuse himself as he waits to fill his holds. Tell me, my Westerosi friend, what is there in Meereen that you should want to go there?”
世上最美丽的女人，昆廷想。我未来的新娘，如果神灵们慈悲的话。有时夜里他躺在床上睁着双眼想象她的容貌和身材，并好奇为什么这样一个女人偏偏要嫁给他，在世上所有的王子之中挑中了他。我是多恩人，他告诉自己。她会想要多恩的。
The most beautiful woman in the world, thought Quentyn. My bride-to-be, if the gods are good. Sometimes at night he lay awake imagining her face and form, and wondering why such a woman would ever want to marry him, of all the princes in the world. I am Dorne, he told himself. She will want Dorne.
格里斯用他们事先编造好的故事做了回答。“贩酒是我们的家族事业。我父亲在多恩拥有广阔的葡萄园，想让我去开拓新的市场。希望弥林的好市民能喜欢我出售的美酒。”
Gerris answered with the tale they had concocted. “Wine is our family trade. My father owns extensive vineyards back in Dorne, and wishes me to find new markets. It is hoped that the good folk of Meereen will welcome what I sell.”
“酒？多恩的酒？”船长没被说服。“奴隶城市正在打仗。难道你不知道？”
“Wine? Dornish wine?” The captain was not convinced. “The slave cities are at war. Can it be you do not know this?”
“开战的是渊凯和阿斯塔波，我们听说了。弥林没有参与。”
“The fighting is between Yunkai and Astapor, we had heard. Meereen is not involved.”
“还没有。但快了。就是现在，一位来自渊凯[*1]的使者还在瓦兰提斯招募剑手。“长矛团”已经乘船去了渊凯，而且“狂风团”和“野猫盟”一旦补满兵员也会马上随他们而去。黄金团也在向东进军。这都是众所周知的。”
“Not as yet. But soon. An envoy from the Yellow City is in Volantis even now, hiring swords. The Long Lances have already taken ship for Yunkai, and the Windblown and the Company of the Cat will follow once they have finished filling out their ranks. The Golden Company marches east as well. All this is known.”
“随你怎么说，我经营酒，不是战争。吉斯卡利酒是大家公认的劣酒。弥林人会为我的多恩佳酿付个好价钱的。”
“If you say so. I deal in wine, not wars. Ghiscari wine is poor stuff, all agree. The Meereenese will pay a good price for my fine Dornish vintages.”
“死人才不关心他们喝什么酒。”冒险号的船长捻着胡须。“我不是和你打交道的第一位船长，我想。也不是第十个。”
“Dead men do not care what kind of wine they drink.” The master of Adventure fingered his beard. “I am not the first captain you have approached, I think. Nor the tenth.”
“不是，”格里斯承认。
“No,” Gerris admitted.
“那么有多少？一百？”
“How many, then? A hundred?”
差不多了，昆廷想。瓦兰提斯人喜欢夸口说布拉佛斯的百余列岛可以全部沉没在他们的深水港里。昆廷从未见过布拉佛斯，但他相信这个说法。富饶，成熟得已经糜烂，瓦兰提斯像一个温暖湿润的吻覆在洛恩河口上，沿着河两岸的丘陵和湿地伸展着。到处都是船，顺流而下或启程出海，簇拥在泊位和码头边，装载或卸下货物：战船，捕鲸船和贸易用的驳船，宽身帆船和小艇，平底船，巨型平底船，长船，天鹅船，来自里斯，泰洛西和潘托斯的各种各样的船，魁尔斯香料商的船大如宫殿，来自托洛斯，渊凯和蛇蜥群岛。如此多的船，以至于昆廷从野云雀号的甲板上第一眼看到港口时，就告诉他的朋友们他们最多只在这逗留三天。
Close enough, thought Quentyn. The Volantenes were fond of boasting that the hundred isles of Braavos could be dropped into their deep harbor and drowned. Quentyn had never seen Braavos, but he could believe it. Rich and ripe and rotted, Volantis covered the mouth of the Rhoyne like a warm wet kiss, stretching across hill and marsh on both sides of the river. Ships were everywhere, coming down the river or headed out to sea, crowding the wharves and piers, taking on cargo or off-loading it: warships and whalers and trading galleys, carracks and skiffs, cogs, great cogs, longships, swan ships, ships from Lys and Tyrosh and Pentos, Qartheen spicers big as palaces, ships from Tolos and Yunkai and the Basilisks. So many that Quentyn, seeing the port for the first time from the deck of the Meadowlark, had told his friends that they would only linger here three days.
然而二十多天已经过去了，他们还留在这，一直没有船。梅兰提尼号，三形之女号，美人鱼之吻号都拒绝了他们。鲁莽航海者号上的一个大副冲他着们的脸哈哈大笑。海豚号的船主斥责他们是在浪费他的时间，七子号的老板指控他们是海盗。这都是第一天发生的事情。
Yet twenty days had passed, and here they remained, still shipless. The captains of the Melantine, the Triarch’s Daughter, and the Mermaid’s Kiss had all refused them. A mate on the Bold Voyager had laughed in their faces. The master of the Dolphin berated them for wasting his time, and the owner of the Seventh Son accused them of being pirates. All on the first day.
只有小鹿号的船长给了他们拒绝的理由。“我的确是要向东航行，”他告诉他们，喝过掺了水的葡萄酒之后。“从南面绕过瓦雷利亚，然后一直向东。我们将在新吉斯补充淡水和给养，然后掉转船头驶向魁尔斯和玉门。每次航行都有危险，越远就越危险。为什么我要转向奴隶湾去冒更大的风险？小鹿号是我的谋生的家伙。我不会让她冒险去载着三个疯狂的多恩人进入到一个战场当中。”
Only the captain of the Fawn had given them reasons for his refusal. “It is true that I am sailing east,” he told them, over watered wine. “South around Valyria and thence into the sunrise. We will take on water and provisions at New Ghis, then bend all oars toward Qarth and the Jade Gates. Every voyage has perils, long ones more than most. Why should I seek out more danger by turning into Slaver’s Bay? The Fawn is my livelihood. I will not risk her to take three mad Dornishmen into the middle of a war.”
昆廷开始考虑当初在板条镇买条自己的船是否更好些。但那将引起不必要的注意。蜘蛛的告密者无处不在，甚至在阳戟城的大厅里。“如果你的目的被发现，多恩将会流血。”他父亲曾警告过他，当他们看着孩子们在流水花园的水池和喷泉里嬉戏时。“我们是在谋反，不要犯错误。只相信你的同伴，并尽量避免引起注意。”
Quentyn had begun to think that they might have done better to buy their own ship in the Planky Town. That would have drawn unwanted attention, however. The Spider had informers everywhere, even in the halls of Sunspear. “Dorne will bleed if your purpose is discovered,” his father had warned him, as they watched the children frolic in the pools and fountains of the Water Gardens. “What we do is treason, make no mistake. Trust only your companions, and do your best to avoid attracting notice.”
格里斯·酌水给了冒险号船长他最令人安心的笑容。“说实话，我没有数那些拒绝我们的懦夫，但在旅店里我听说你是那种勇敢的人。那种为了足够多的黄金敢冒任何风险的男人。”
So Gerris Drinkwater gave the captain of Adventure his most disarming smile. “Truth be told, I have not kept count of all the cowards who refused us, but at the Merchant’s House I heard it said that you were a bolder sort of man, the sort who might risk anything for sufficient gold.”
一个走私贩子，昆廷想。这就是在旅店里别的商人对冒险号船长的称呼。“他是个走私加奴隶贩子，一半海盗一半皮条客，但他恐怕是你们最好的希望啦，”店主已经告诉他们了。
A smuggler, Quentyn thought. That was how the other traders styled Adventure’s master, back at the Merchant’s House. “He is a smuggler and a slaver, half pirate and half pander, but it may be that he is your best hope,” the innkeep had told them.
船长捻着拇指和食指问道。“为这样一趟航行你认为多少金子算是足够呢？”
The captain rubbed thumb and forefinger together. “And how much gold would you deem sufficient for such a voyage?”
“你平常去奴隶湾的三倍。”
“Thrice your usual fee for passage to Slaver’s Bay.”
“你们每个人？”船长露出他嘴里的牙齿，可能是打算作出一个微笑。不过那令他的窄脸看起来更凶狠了。“或许。我真的比大多数男人胆子更大。你想什么时候走？”
“For each of you?” The captain showed his teeth in something that might have been intended as a smile though it gave his narrow face a feral look. “Perhaps. It is true, I am a bolder man than most. How soon will you wish to leave?”
“明天就很好。”
“The morrow would not be too soon.”
“成交。天亮前一小时和你的朋友还有葡萄酒一起回来。最好在瓦兰提斯还在沉睡时上路，那样就没人会来问我们去哪这样麻烦的的问题啦。”
“Done. Return an hour before first light, with your friends and your wines. Best to be under way whilst Volantis sleeps, so no one will ask us inconvenient questions about our destination.”
“说定了，天亮前一小时。”
“As you say. An hour before first light.”
船长笑得更开心了。“我很高兴能帮上你们。我们会有一个愉快的旅程，对吗？”
The captain’s smile widened. “I am pleased that I can help you. We will have a happy voyage, yes?”
“我对此确信不疑，”格里斯说。船长为他们叫来了麦酒，然后两个人为他们的冒险干杯。
“I am certain of it,” said Gerris. The captain called for ale then, and the two of them drank a toast to their venture.
“一个甜蜜的家伙，”格里斯和昆廷走下码头之后说，他们雇的篷车在那等候着。天气闷热，阳光强烈，刺得他们都眯起了双眼。
“A sweet man,” Gerris said afterward, as he and Quentyn made their way down to the foot of the pier where their hired hathay waited. The air hung hot and heavy, and the sun was so bright that both of them were squinting.
“这是一个甜蜜的城市，”昆廷同意。甜的足以令你的牙齿烂掉。这附近长满了甜菜，几乎每道菜里都要添加它。瓦兰提斯人用它们做了一道冷汤，黏稠浓厚的像紫蜂蜜一样。他们这的酒也是甜的。“恐怕我们的快乐旅程会很短暂。那个甜美的家伙没打算带我们去弥林。他答应下来的太快了。毫无疑问他会拿到三倍于平常的费用，只要我们一上船离开了陆地，他就会割开我们的喉咙，拿走我们剩下的黄金。”
“This is a sweet city,” Quentyn agreed. Sweet enough to rot your teeth. Sweet beets were grown in profusion hereabouts, and were served with almost every meal. The Volantenes made a cold soup of them, as thick and rich as purple honey. Their wines were sweet as well. “I fear our happy voyage will be short, however. That sweet man does not mean to take us to Meereen. He was too quick to accept your offer. He’ll take thrice the usual fee, no doubt, and once he has us aboard and out of sight of land, he’ll slit our throats and take the rest of our gold as well.”
“或着把我们用铁链拴某只桨上，在那些我们闻起来臭烘烘的家伙旁。我想我们需要找个好点的走私者啦。”
“Or chain us to an oar, beside those wretches we were smelling. We need to find a better class of smuggler, I think.”
他们的车夫在他的篷车旁等着他们。在维斯特洛，它可能被叫做牛车，尽管他它比昆廷在多恩曾见到过的任何车都装饰的更加华丽，而且也不是牛拉的。篷车是由一只矮象拉着，她毛皮的颜色像是肮脏的积雪。在老瓦兰提斯的大街上到处都是这种车。
Their driver awaited them beside his hathay. In Westeros, it might have been called an oxcart, though it was a deal more ornate than any cart that Quentyn had ever seen in Dorne, and lacked an ox. The hathay was pulled by a dwarf elephant, her hide the color of dirty snow. The streets of Old Volantis were full of such.
昆廷宁愿走路，但他们住的旅店离着有几里远。另外，店主警告过他，在当地的瓦兰提斯人和外国船长们的眼中，徒步旅行是有损名誉的。上等人乘轿出行，或坐在篷车的后座上 … 而且碰巧店主就有这么一位表亲有着几辆篷车，并且很乐于在这种事情上为他们提供服务。
Quentyn would have preferred to walk, but they were miles from their inn. Besides, the innkeep at the Merchant’s House had warned him that traveling afoot would taint them in the eyes of foreign captains and the native-born Volantenes alike. Persons of quality traveled by palanquin, or in the back of a hathay … and as it happened the innkeep had a cousin who owned several such contrivances and would be pleased to serve them in this matter.
他们的车夫是那位表亲的一个奴隶，脸上纹着车轮的小个子男人，光着身子只围着一块腰布和穿着一双凉鞋。他的皮肤是柚木的颜色，他的眼睛像燧石的碎片。当他帮助他们坐上篷车的两个巨大木轮中间的软椅之后，他爬上了矮象的后背。“旅店，”昆廷告诉他，“但沿着码头走。”除了码头和海滨外，瓦兰提斯的大街小巷闷热的足够让一个人淹死在自己的汗水里，至少在河的这一边是如此。
Their driver was one of the cousin’s slaves, a small man with a wheel tattooed upon one cheek, naked but for a breechclout and a pair of sandals. His skin was the color of teak, his eyes chips of flint. After he had helped them up onto the cushioned bench between the cart’s two huge wooden wheels, he clambered onto the elephant’s back. “The Merchant’s House,” Quentyn told him, “but go along the wharves.” Beyond the waterfront and its breezes, the streets and alleys of Volantis were hot enough to drown a man in his own sweat, at least on this side of the river.
车夫用当地语言冲他的象喊了句什么。这头野兽开始移动，鼻子从一边摇到另一边。车子在她身后颠簸前行，车夫一视同仁地冲着水手和奴隶叫喊，让他们让开道路。这两者很容易区分。奴隶都有纹身：一个蓝色羽毛面具，一道下巴划到额头的闪电，脸颊上的一枚硬币，一头豹子的斑点，一个骷髅头，一只酒壶。凯德里学士说过在瓦兰提斯每一个自由人都有五个奴隶，他他没能活得足够久来证实他的估计。在那个海盗们蜂拥而上地冲向野云雀号甲板的早晨，他死掉了。
The driver shouted something at his elephant in the local tongue. The beast began to move, trunk swaying from side to side. The cart lurched along behind her, the driver hooting at sailors and slaves alike to clear the way. It was easy enough to tell one from the other. The slaves were all tattooed: a mask of blue feathers, a lightning bolt that ran from jaw to brow, a coin upon the cheek, a leopard’s spots, a skull, a jug. Maester Kedry said there were five slaves for every free man in Volantis though he had not lived long enough to verify his estimate. He had perished on the morning the corsairs swarmed aboard the Meadowlark.
在那天昆廷还失去了两位朋友——长着雀斑和参差不齐牙齿的威廉·威尔斯，手握长矛无所畏惧，和带着慵懒眼神英俊的克莱图斯·伊伦伍德，总是那么好色，总能带来欢笑。克莱图斯曾是昆廷前半生中最亲密的朋友，一个没有血缘关系的亲兄弟。“替我给你的新娘一个吻，”克莱图斯小声对他说，就在他临死之前。
Quentyn lost two other friends that same day—Willam Wells with his freckles and his crooked teeth, fearless with a lance, and Cletus Yronwood, handsome despite his lazy eye, always randy, always laughing. Cletus had been Quentyn’s dearest friend for half his life, a brother in all but blood. “Give your bride a kiss for me,” Cletus had whispered to him, just before he died.
当野云雀号在争议之地的海岸边停靠时，海盗们乘着黎明前的黑暗登上了船。船员们在付出十二条生命的代价之后击退了他们。随后水手们开始从死去的海盗身上剥下靴子，腰带和武器，瓜分了他们钱财，从耳朵上挣下宝石，从手指上撸下戒指。其中有个家伙太胖了，为了取下他的戒指，船上的厨师不得不用一把剁肉刀切下了他的手指。用了三名船员才把这具尸体滚进海里。其他的海盗在他之后被抛下了海，没有任何祈祷或者仪式。
The corsairs had come aboard in the darkness before the dawn, as the Meadowlark was anchored off the coast of the Disputed Lands. The crew had beaten them off, at the cost of twelve lives. Afterward the sailors stripped the dead corsairs of boots and belts and weapons, divvied up their purses, and yanked gemstones from their ears and rings from their fingers. One of the corpses was so fat that the ship’s cook had to cut his fingers off with a meat cleaver to claim his rings. It took three Meadowlarks to roll the body into the sea. The other pirates were chucked in after him, without a word of prayer or ceremony.
他们自己的死者受到了更认真的对待。水手们用帆布包起他们的躯体，绑上压仓石以使他们可以沉得更快些。野云雀号的船长带领他的船员们为死去的伙伴们的灵魂祈祷。然后他转向他的多恩乘客们，在板条镇登上他的船的六位乘客中的三位幸存者。就连“大人物”也露面了，虽然脸色苍白，晕船，脚步摇晃，还是挣扎着从船舱深处爬上来表达他最后的敬意。“在把他们交给大海之前，你们当中一位该为你们的死者说上几句。”船长说。格里斯有责任去说，但他不敢说出真相，他们是谁和他们为何而来，因此说的全篇都是谎言。
Their own dead received more tender treatment. The sailors sewed their bodies up in canvas, weighed down with ballast stones so they might sink more quickly. The captain of the Meadowlark led his crew in a prayer for the souls of their slain shipmates. Then he turned to his Dornish passengers, the three who still remained of the six who had come aboard at the Planky Town. Even the big man had emerged, pale and greensick and unsteady on his feet, struggling up from the depths of the ship’s hold to pay his last respects. “One of you should say some words for your dead, before we give them to the sea,” the captain said. Gerris had obliged, lying with every other word, since he dare not tell the truth of who they’d been or why they’d come.
他们不应当就这样结束。“这将是一个可以讲给我们的孙子们的传奇，”格里斯在他们从他父亲的城堡出发的那一天曾断言。威尔斯对此做个鬼脸说，“你指的是一个讲给酒馆姑娘们故事吧，希望她们会为此掀起她们的裙子。”克莱图斯拍了拍他的后背。“为了孙子，你需要儿子。为了儿子，你需要去掀起一些裙子。”随后，在板条镇，这些多恩人向昆廷未来的新娘祝酒，对他将来的新婚之夜开些粗俗的玩笑，并谈到他们将要看到的事情，他们要采取的行动，他们将赢取的荣耀。他们赢得的不过是一只装满压仓石的帆布口袋。
It was not supposed to end like that for them. “This will be a tale to tell our grandchildren,” Cletus had declared the day they set out from his father’s castle. Will made a face at that, and said, “A tale to tell tavern wenches, you mean, in hopes they’ll lift their skirts.” Cletus had slapped him on the back. “For grandchildren, you need children. For children, you need to lift some skirts.” Later, in the Planky Town, the Dornishmen had toasted Quentyn’s future bride, made ribald japes about his wedding night to come, and talked about the things they’d see, the deeds they’d do, the glory they would win. All they won was a sailcloth sack filled with ballast stones.
同为威尔斯和克莱图斯的哀悼比起来，学士的去世让昆廷感觉最为难过。凯德里能流利地讲自由城邦的所有语言，甚至奴隶湾沿岸混血吉斯人说的话。“凯德里学士将会陪伴你。”他父亲在他们分别那天的晚上说。“听从他的忠告。他半生致力于研究九大自由城邦。”昆廷猜想着如果他能在这里指导他们的话，事情是不是就不会这样棘手了。
As much as he mourned Will and Cletus, it was the maester’s loss that Quentyn felt most keenly. Kedry had been fluent in the tongues of all of the Free Cities, and even the mongrel Ghiscari that men spoke along the shores of Slaver’s Bay. “Maester Kedry will accompany you,” his father said the night they parted. “Heed his counsel. He has devoted half his life to the study of the Nine Free Cities.” Quentyn wondered if things might not have gone a deal easier if only he were here to guide them.
“我愿为了一点微风卖掉老妈。”当他们穿过码头周围的人群时格里斯说。“这儿就潮得简直像处女的阴道，而且还没到中午呢。我恨这城市。”
“I would sell my mother for a bit of breeze,” said Gerris, as they rolled through the dockside throngs. “It’s moist as the Maiden’s cunt, and still shy of noon. I hate this city.”
昆廷心有同感。潮湿闷热的瓦兰提斯消耗掉了他的力气，让他觉得浑身难受。最糟糕的是就算是在晚上也得不到解脱。在伊伦伍德伯爵领地北部的高原上，不管白天天气有多炎热，天黑后空气总是清新凉爽。不像这，在瓦兰提斯，夜晚几乎和白天一样闷热。
Quentyn shared the feeling. The sullen wet heat of Volantis sapped his strength and left him feeling dirty. The worst part was knowing that nightfall would bring no relief. Up in the high meadows north of Lord Yronwood’s estates, the air was always crisp and cool after dark, no matter how hot the day had been. Not here. In Volantis, the nights were almost as hot as the days.
“女神号明天启航去新吉斯，”格里斯提醒他。“到那至少也能令我们更近些。”
“The Goddess sails for New Ghis on the morrow,” Gerris reminded him. “That at least would bring us closer.”
“新吉斯是一个岛，港口比这要小的多的。我们是会更接近，但我们就会困在那了。而且新吉斯和渊凯结盟了。”这消息没让昆廷感到惊讶，新吉斯和渊凯都是吉斯人的城市。“如果瓦兰提斯人也和他们结盟的话——”
“New Ghis is an island, and a much smaller port than this. We would be closer, yes, but we could find ourselves stranded. And New Ghis has allied with the Yunkai’i.” That news had not come as a surprise to Quentyn. New Ghis and Yunkai were both Ghiscari cities. “If Volantis should ally with them as well—”
“我们需要找一条维斯特洛来的船，”格里斯建议，“兰尼斯特或者旧镇来的商船。”
“We need to find a ship from Westeros,” suggested Gerris, “some trader out of Lannisport or Oldtown.”
“很少会来这么远，那些船用来自玉海的丝绸和香料装满他们的货仓后就会掉头回家。”
“Few come this far, and those who do fill their holds with silk and spice from the Jade Sea, then bend their oars for home.”
“或许布拉佛斯的船？据说海王能远航到亚夏和玉海中的岛屿。”
“Perhaps a Braavosi ship? One hears of purple sails as far away as Asshai and the islands of the Jade Sea.”
“布拉佛斯人是逃掉的奴隶的后裔。他们不会在奴隶湾做买卖。”
“The Braavosi are descended from escaped slaves. They do not trade in Slaver’s Bay.”
“我们的金子够买下一条船吗？”
“Do we have enough gold to buy a ship?”
“那谁来驾驶她呢？你？还是我？”多恩人从来不是航海家，自从娜梅莉亚烧掉了她的一万条船之后就再不是了。“瓦雷利亚附近的海域很危险，布满了海盗。”
“And who will sail her? You? Me?” Dornishmen had never been seafarers, not since Nymeria burned her ten thousand ships. “The seas around Valyria are perilous, and thick with corsairs.”
“我已经受够了海盗。我们还是不要买船了。”
“I have had enough of corsairs. Let’s not buy a ship.”
这对他来说依旧不过是个游戏，昆廷意识到，和那次他带领我们六个人深入群山去探寻秃鹰王的老巢没什么不同。去设想他们可能会失败不是格里斯·酌水的天性，更别提他们可能会死了。看起来甚至三个朋友的死亡也没能对他产生丝毫影响。他把事情留给了我。他知道我的天性谨慎得如同他的鲁莽。
This is still just a game to him, Quentyn realized, no different than the time he led six of us up into the mountains to find the old lair of the Vulture King. It was not in Gerris Drinkwater’s nature to imagine they might fail, let alone that they might die. Even the deaths of three friends had not served to chasten him, it would seem. He leaves that to me. He knows my nature is as cautious as his is bold.
“也许大人物是对的，”格里斯爵士说。“去它妈的大海，我们能从陆上走完这段行程。”
“Perhaps the big man is right,” Ser Gerris said. “Piss on the sea, we can finish the journey overland.”
“你知道他为什么那么说，”昆廷说。“他宁死也不愿再踏上另一条船了。”在他们的旅程中，大人物每天都在晕船。在里斯，他花了四天的时间来恢复体力。他们不得不在客栈里要了房间以便凯德里学士把他塞进羽毛床上，为他端汤递药，直到一些血色回到他的脸颊。
“You know why he says that,” Quentyn said. “He’d rather die than set foot on another ship.” The big man had been greensick every day of their voyage. In Lys, it had taken him four days to recover his strength. They’d had to take rooms in an inn so Maester Kedry could tuck him into a feather bed and feed him broths and potions until some pink returned to his cheeks.
的确可以从陆上去弥林。古老的瓦雷利亚大道会带他们到那里。龙之路，人们如此称呼这条自由城邦的伟大的石头道路，但从瓦兰提斯到弥林的这段道路，已经赢得了一个更不祥的名称：魔鬼之路。
It was possible to go overland to Meereen, that much was true. The old Valyrian roads would take them there. Dragon roads, men called the great stone roadways of the Freehold, but the one that ran eastward from Volantis to Meereen had earned a more sinister name: the demon road.
“走魔鬼之路危险而且太慢了。”昆廷说。“一旦女王的消息传到君临，泰温·兰尼斯特就会派他自己的人去追赶女王。他父亲确信这一点。“他会带着刀子来。如果他们先到的话——”
“The demon road is dangerous, and too slow,” Quentyn said. “Tywin Lannister will send his own men after the queen once word of her reaches King’s Landing.” His father had been certain of that. “His will come with knives. If they reach her first—”
“让我们期望她的龙会嗅出他们然后把他们吃掉，”格里斯说。“好吧，如果我们不能找到一条船，你又让我们骑马，那我们只好订船票回多恩啦。”
“Let’s hope her dragons will sniff them out and eat them,” said Gerris. “Well, if we cannot find a ship, and you will not let us ride, we had as well book passage back to Dorne.”
像丧家之犬一样爬回阳戟城？昆廷承受不了他父亲的失望，沙蛇们的蔑视会令他无地自容。道朗·马泰尔将多恩的命运放到了他的手里，他不能辜负他，只要还活着就不能。
Crawl back to Sunspear defeated, with my tail between my legs? His father’s disappointment would be more than Quentyn could bear, and the scorn of the Sand Snakes would be withering. Doran Martell had put the fate of Dorne into his hands, he could not fail him, not whilst life remained.
当篷车在包着铁框的车轮上吱嘎作响地颠簸前行时，街上蒸腾的热气令他们对周围产生了一种梦幻的感觉。在仓库和码头之间，各种各样的商店和摊位挤满了海边。在这里可以买到新鲜牡蛎，铁链和手铐，象牙和玉石雕刻的“席瓦斯”棋子。这里也有神庙，水手们来此供奉异国的神灵，一家紧挨着一家的妓院，女人从阳台上招唤下面的男人。“看下那一位，”当他们经过一家妓院时格里斯怂恿道。“我想她爱上了你。”
Heat shimmers rose off the street as the hathay rattled and jounced along on its iron-rimmed wheels, giving a dreamlike quality to their surroundings. In amongst the warehouses and the wharves, shops and stalls of many sorts crowded the waterfront. Here fresh oysters could be bought, here iron chains and manacles, here cyvasse pieces carved of ivory and jade. Here were temples too, where sailors came to sacrifice to foreign gods, cheek by jowl with pillow houses where women called down from balconies to men below. “Have a look at that one,” Gerris urged, as they passed one pillow house. “I think she’s in love with you.”
妓女的爱情值多少钱？说实话，昆廷渴求女孩，尤其是漂亮的。
And how much does a whore’s love cost? Truth be told, girls made Quentyn anxious, especially the pretty ones.
当他第一次来到伊伦伍德家便被伊伦伍德伯爵的长女，依妮丝迷住了。关于他的感受他从未透露一个字，他怀揣梦想好多年……直到她被许配给罗热·艾利昂爵士的那一天，神恩城的继承人。他最后一次见到她时，她怀抱这一个男孩，另一个正紧抓着她的裙子。
When first he’d come to Yronwood, he had been smitten with Ynys, the eldest of Lord Yronwood’s daughters. Though he never said a word about his feelings, he nursed his dreams for years … until the day she was dispatched to wed Ser Ryon Allyrion, the heir to Godsgrace. The last time he had seen her, she’d had one boy at her breast and another clinging to her skirts.
在依妮丝之后，是酌水家的双胞胎，一对黄毛丫头，喜爱放鹰打猎，攀岩和逗昆廷脸红。她们中的一个给了他他的初吻，尽管他从不知道是哪一个。作为有产骑士的女儿，双胞胎出身太微贱不能和他结婚，但克莱图斯不认为有任何理由停止亲吻她们。“你成婚之后你可以把她们中的一个收为情妇。或者两个都要，为什么不呢？”但昆廷想出了几条不那么做得理由，所以他在那之后尽力避开了双胞胎，再没有了第二个吻了。
After Ynys had come the Drinkwater twins, a pair of tawny young maidens who loved hawking, hunting, climbing rocks, and making Quentyn blush. One of them had given him his first kiss, though he never knew which one. As daughters of a landed knight, the twins were too lowborn to marry, but Cletus did not think that was any reason to stop kissing them. “After you’re wed you can take one of them for a paramour. Or both, why not?” But Quentyn thought of several reasons why not, so he had done his best to avoid the twins thereafter, and there had been no second kiss.
最近，伊伦伍德伯爵的最小的女儿在城堡的各处尾随着他。格温妮丝才十二岁，一个又小又瘦的女孩，有着黑色的眼睛和棕色头发，这让她在金发碧眼的家人中显得与众不同。她很聪明，不过，说话很快而且手舞足蹈，还喜欢告诉昆廷：他不得不等她发育成熟，这样她才能嫁给他。
More recently, the youngest of Lord Yronwood’s daughters had taken to following him about the castle. Gwyneth was but twelve, a small, scrawny girl whose dark eyes and brown hair set her apart in that house of blue-eyed blondes. She was clever, though, as quick with words as with her hands, and fond of telling Quentyn that he had to wait for her to flower, so she could marry him.
那是在道郎亲王召唤他回流水花园之前的事了。现在世上最美丽的女人正在弥林等着他，他打算尽自己的职责，要求她成为自己的新娘。她不会拒绝我。她会尊重协议的。丹妮莉丝·坦格利安需要多恩为她赢得七大王国，这意味着她会需要他。但这并不意味着她会爱我。 她甚至可能不喜欢我。
That was before Prince Doran had summoned him to the Water Gardens. And now the most beautiful woman in the world was waiting in Meereen, and he meant to do his duty and claim her for his bride. She will not refuse me. She will honor the agreement. Daenerys Targaryen would need Dorne to win the Seven Kingdoms, and that meant that she would need him. It does not mean that she will love me, though. She may not even like me.
在入海口处街道弯成了弧形，沿着弯道许多动物销售商都聚集在一起，出售宝石蜥蜴、环纹巨蟒，有斑纹尾巴和灵巧的粉红双手的机灵的小猴子。“或许你的银发女王喜欢一只猴子，”格里斯说。
The street curved where the river met the sea, and there along the bend a number of animal sellers were clustered together, offering jeweled lizards, giant banded snakes, and agile little monkeys with striped tails and clever pink hands. “Perhaps your silver queen would like a monkey,” said Gerris.
昆廷不清楚丹妮莉丝·坦格利安会喜欢什么。他曾经对父亲许诺他会把她带回多恩，但他越来越怀疑他是否能胜任这项工作。
Quentyn had no idea what Daenerys Targaryen might like. He had promised his father that he would bring her back to Dorne, but more and more he wondered if he was equal to the task.
我从来没有要求这个，他想。
I never asked for this, he thought.
隔着蓝色宽广的洛恩河，他能看到当初瓦雷利亚人所建造的黑墙，当时瓦兰提斯只不过是他们帝国的一个前哨：一个巨大的椭圆形的熔岩石有二百尺高，而且厚得在其顶部可供六辆四马战车并排环绕追逐，正如他们每一年庆祝建城时所做的。外地人，外国人，自由民不许进入黑墙，除非有里面的居民邀请。那些居民的血统可以追溯到瓦雷利亚帝国本身。
Across the wide blue expanse of the Rhoyne, he could see the Black Wall that had been raised by the Valyrians when Volantis was no more than an outpost of their empire: a great oval of fused stone two hundred feet high and so thick that six four-horse chariots could race around its top abreast, as they did each year to celebrate the founding of the city. Outlanders, foreigners, and freedmen were not allowed inside the Black Wall save at the invitation of those who dwelt within, scions of the Old Blood who could trace their ancestry back to Valyria itself.
这里交通更加拥挤。他们在连接被分隔成两半的城市的长桥最西端附近。板车，货车和篷车挤满了街道，所有人都从桥上来来往往。奴隶到处都是，像蟑螂一样多，为了他们主人的事务四处乱窜。
The traffic was thicker here. They were near the western end of the Long Bridge, which linked the two halves of the city. Wayns and carts and hathays crowded the streets, all of them coming from the bridge or making for it. Slaves were everywhere, as numerous as roaches, scurrying about their masters’ business.
离鱼贩广场和旅店不远，从一个十字路口冒出了喧哗声，十来个无垢者的长矛手身穿华丽的盔甲和虎皮披风不知从哪儿冒了出来，挥手令众人让到一边，以便祭司乘坐的大象可以通过。祭司的大象是一个灰色皮肤的庞然大物，覆盖着精致的上釉的盔甲，随着他的移动发出轻柔的哗啦声，它背上的象楼如此高大，以至于在从装饰性的石头拱门下面经过时，它刮到了拱门的顶部。“祭司被认为如此尊贵，以至于在他们任职的一年间不容许他们的脚接触到地面。”昆廷告诉他的同伴。“他们乘坐大象前往各处。”
Not far from Fishermonger’s Square and the Merchant’s House, shouts erupted from a cross street, and a dozen Unsullied spearmen in ornate armor and tiger-skin cloaks appeared as if from nowhere, waving everyone aside so the triarch could pass through atop his elephant. The triarch’s elephant was a grey-skinned behemoth clad in elaborate enameled armor that clattered softly as he moved, the castle on its back so tall that it scraped the top of the ornamental stone arch he was passing underneath. “The triarchs are considered so elevated that their feet are not allowed to touch the ground during their year of service,” Quentyn informed his companion. “They ride everywhere on elephants.”
“堵塞大街并且留下一堆粪便，让我们这样的人去承受。”格里斯说。“为什么瓦兰提斯人需要三位亲王，而多恩一个就够用，我永远也不会知道。”
“Blocking up the streets and leaving heaps of dung for the likes of us to contend with,” said Gerris. “Why Volantis needs three princes when Dorne makes do with one, I will never know.”
“祭司们即不是国王也不是亲王。瓦兰提斯是一个自由城邦，像从前的瓦雷利亚。所有拥有土地的自由民共同管理。甚至女人也被容许投票，只要她拥有土地。三个祭司从证明有瓦雷利亚纯净血统的尊贵家族中挑选出来，服务到来年的元旦。如果你肯麻烦去读凯德里学士给你的书，你会了解这一切的。”
“The triarchs are neither kings nor princes. Volantis is a freehold, like Valyria of old. All freeborn landholders share the rule. Even women are allowed to vote, provided they own land. The three triarchs are chosen from amongst those noble families who can prove unbroken descent from old Valyria, to serve until the first day of the new year. And you would know all this if you had troubled to read the book that Maester Kedry gave you.”
“它没有插图。”
“It had no pictures.”
“有地图。”
“There were maps.”
“地图不算数。如果他告诉我那是一本关于老虎和大象的书，我也许已经试着读它了。它看上去就像是本历史书。”
“Maps do not count. If he had told me it was about tigers and elephants, I might have given it a try. It looked suspiciously like a history.”
当他们的篷车到达鱼贩广场的边沿时，他们的大象抬起她的鼻子，像是某种巨大的白鹅，发出鸣叫，不情愿地走进那一群板车，轿子，和前面汹涌的人流当中。他们的车夫用他的脚跟戳着她，催她继续前行。
When their hathay reached the edge of the Fishermonger’s Square, their elephant lifted her trunk and made a honking noise like some huge white goose, reluctant to plunge into the tangle of wayns, palanquins, and foot traffic ahead. Their driver prodded her with his heel and kept her moving.
鱼贩子们卖力地吆喝着早上的捕获。昆廷听懂一个词，最多两个，但他不需要靠单词来辨识鱼。他看到鳕鱼、旗鱼、沙丁鱼、几桶贻贝和蛤蜊。一个摊位的前面挂着鳗鱼。另一个陈列着一只巨大的乌龟，它的腿被铁链串起来，像马一样重。螃蟹在装有盐水和海藻的木桶内抓挠。几个小贩卖配上洋葱和甜菜的油炸鱼排，或出售小铁桶炖的洒上胡椒的鱼汤。
The fishmongers were out in strength, crying the morning catch. Quentyn understood one word in two at best, but he did not need to know the words to know the fish. He saw cod and sailfish and sardines, barrels of mussels and clams. Eels hung along the front of one stall. Another displayed a gigantic turtle, strung up by its legs on iron chains, heavy as a horse. Crabs scrabbled inside casks of brine and seaweed. Several of the vendors were frying chunks of fish with onions and beets, or selling peppery fish stew out of small iron kettles.
在广场的中心，一座已经开裂了无头的某位故去的祭司雕像下，一群人聚集起来观看一些侏儒的表演。小人儿穿上了木制盔甲，小型的骑士预备骑马用长矛比武。昆廷看到一位骑上了一条狗，同时另一位跳上了一头猪……不料又从右边滑落下来，带来了少许笑声。
In the center of the square, under the cracked and headless statue of a dead triarch, a crowd had begun to gather about some dwarfs putting on a show. The little men were done up in wooden armor, miniature knights preparing for a joust. Quentyn saw one mount a dog, as the other hopped onto a pig … only to slide right off again, to a smattering of laughter.
“他们看起来挺可乐，”格里斯说。“我们停下来看看他们打架？笑一笑可能对你有好处。昆廷。你看上去像个便秘了半年的老头子。”
“They look amusing,” Gerris said. “Shall we stop and watch them fight? A laugh might serve you well, Quent. You look like an old man who has not moved his bowels in half a year.”
我才十八岁，比你还要年轻六岁，昆廷想。我可不是老头子。然而他说出口的是，“我不需要滑稽侏儒。除非他们有条船。”
I am eight-and-ten, six years younger than you, Quentyn thought. I am no old man. Instead he said, “I have no need for comic dwarfs. Unless they have a ship.”
“一条小的，我觉得。”
“A small one, I would think.”
四层楼高的旅店耸立在港区，码头和货栈环绕着它。在这里来自旧镇和君临的商人们混在来自布拉佛斯，潘托斯，密尔的同行当中，毛茸茸的伊班人，来自魁尔斯肤色苍白的航海家，焦炭般漆黑的盛夏群岛人披着羽毛披风，甚至还有来自阴影之地亚夏戴面具的缚影士。
Four stories tall, the Merchant’s House dominated the docks and wharves and storehouses that surrounded it. Here traders from Oldtown and King’s Landing mingled with their counterparts from Braavos and Pentos and Myr, with hairy Ibbenese, pale-skinned voyagers from Qarth, coal-black Summer Islanders in feathered cloaks, even masked shadow-binders from Asshai by the Shadow.
当昆廷从篷车上下来时，就算隔着皮靴他也能感受到脚下的石板的热度。一张桌子支在旅馆外面的阴影处，装饰着蓝白条纹的燕尾旗，随风而摆。四名眼光严厉的佣兵懒散地围坐在这张桌子旁，向每一个经过的男人和男孩大声喊叫。狂风团，昆廷知道。这些士官在他们去往奴隶湾之前在寻找新人来补充他们的兵员。每一个和他们签下合约的人，都是一把为渊凯战斗的剑，对我未来的新娘而言，都意味着一把饮血的刀刃。
The paving stones felt warm beneath his feet when Quentyn climbed down from the hathay, even through the leather of his boots. Outside the Merchant’s House a trestle table had been set up in the shade and decorated with striped blue-and-white pennons that fluttered at every breath of air. Four hard-eyed sellswords lounged around the table, calling out to every passing man and boy. Windblown, Quentyn knew. The serjeants were looking for fresh meat to fill their ranks before they sailed for Slaver’s Bay. And every man who signs with them is another sword for Yunkai, another blade meant to drink the blood of my bride-to-be.
狂风团中的一位冲他们大喊。“我不会说你们的话，”昆廷回答道。尽管他能读和写高等瓦雷利亚语，但他很少练习讲它。而且瓦兰提斯的方言瓦雷利亚语也相差得很远了。
One of the Windblown shouted at them. “I do not speak your tongue,” Quentyn answered. Though he could read and write High Valyrian, he had little practice speaking it. And the Volantene apple had rolled a fair distance from the Valyrian tree.
“维斯特洛人？”那个家伙用通用语回应。“多恩人。我的主人是一位葡萄酒商。”
“Westerosi?” the man answered, in the Common Tongue.“Dornishmen. My master is a wineseller.”
“主人？去他妈的。你是个奴隶吗？”跟我们来，做你自己的主人。 你想老死在床上吗？我们将教你会用剑和矛。你将和烂衫王子一起骑马战斗，回家时比一个领主还要富有。男孩，女孩，黄金，无论你想要什么，如果你够个男子汉就去夺取它。我们是狂风团，我们干女神，干爆她的菊花。
“Master? Fuck that. Are you a slave? Come with us and be your own master. Do you want to die abed? We’ll teach you sword and spear. You’ll ride to battle with the Tattered Prince and come home richer than a lord. Boys, girls, gold, whatever you want, if you’re man enough to take it. We’re the Windblown, and we fuck the goddess slaughter up her arse.”
两位雇佣兵开始唱歌，吼出某支进行曲的歌词。昆廷能听出个大概。我们就是狂风团，他们唱。向东吹向奴隶湾，杀掉屠夫国王呀，再把真龙女王干。
Two of the sellswords began to sing, bellowing out the words to some marching song. Quentyn understood enough to get the gist. We are the Windblown, they sang. Blow us east to Slaver’s Bay, we’ll kill the butcher king and fuck the dragon queen.
“如果克莱图斯和威尔斯还在的话，我们可以和大人物一起杀回来，干掉他们很多人。”格里斯说。
“If Cletus and Will were still with us, we could come back with the big man and kill the lot of them,” said Gerris.
克莱图斯和威尔斯死了。“别理他们，”昆廷说。当他们挤过旅店的大门时，雇佣兵门对着他们的背影高声嘲弄，嘲笑他们是没有血性的懦夫和受到惊吓的女孩。
Cletus and Will are dead. “Pay them no mind,” Quentyn said. The sellswords threw taunts at their backs as they pushed through the doors of the Merchant’s House, mocking them as bloodless cravens and frightened girls.
大人物在二楼他们的房间里等着。尽管客栈由野云雀号的船主推荐来的，这并不意味着昆廷放心让他们的货物和黄金无人看管。每个港口都有小偷，密探，和妓女，而瓦兰提斯格外的多。
The big man was waiting in their rooms on the second floor. Though the inn had come well recommended by the master of the Meadowlark, that did not mean Quentyn was willing to leave their goods and gold unguarded. Every port had thieves, rats, and whores, and Volantis had more than most.
“我正要出去找你们，”阿奇巴尔德·伊伦伍德爵士说，他拉开门闩放他们进屋。是他的表弟克莱图斯开始称呼他为“大人物”的，但这个名字当之无愧。阿奇有六尺半高，宽阔的肩膀，巨大的肚子，像树干一样的大腿，和火腿大小差不多的手，可以说根本没有脖子。童年时的某种疾病使他的头发掉光了。他的秃头使昆廷觉得像一块光滑粉红的卵石。“那么，”他问道，“走私者怎么说的？我们有条艇了吗？”
“I was about to go out looking for you,” Ser Archibald Yronwood said as he slid the bar back to admit them. It was his cousin Cletus who had started calling him the big man, but the name was well deserved. Arch was six-and-a-half-feet tall, broad of shoulder, huge of belly, with legs like tree trunks, hands the size of hams, and no neck to speak of. Some childhood malady had made all his hair fall out. His bald head reminded Quentyn of a smooth pink boulder. “So,” he demanded, “what did the smuggler say? Do we have a boat?”
“是船，”昆廷纠正。“是的，他会带我们走，但只到最近的地狱。”
“A ship,” corrected Quentyn. “Aye, he’ll take us, but only as far as the nearest hell.”
格里斯坐在一张塌陷的床上，脱下他的靴子。“时时刻刻多恩听起来更具诱惑了。”
Gerris sat upon a sagging bed and pulled off his boots. “Dorne is sounding more attractive every moment.”
大人物说，“我还是要说，我们走魔鬼之路会更好。也许它不像人们说的那样危险。就算是的话，敢于挑战它也意味着更多的荣耀。谁敢惹我们？酌水的剑，和我的锤子，够任何魔鬼受得了。”
The big man said, “I still say we would do better to ride the demon road. Might be it’s not as perilous as men say. And if it is, that only means more glory for those who dare it. Who would dare molest us? Drink with his sword, me with my hammer, that’s more than any demon could digest.”
“如果丹妮莉丝我们到达之前死掉了呢？”昆廷说。“我们必须有一艘船。就算它是冒险号。”
“And if Daenerys is dead before we reach her?” Quentyn said. “We must have a ship. Even if it is Adventure.”
格里斯笑了起来。“如果你能忍受几个月的那种恶臭，那你一定比我所知道的更渴望丹妮莉丝啦。三天后我就会求他们把我杀掉。不，我的王子，我求你，不要冒险号。”
Gerris laughed. “You must be more desperate for Daenerys than I knew if you’d endure that stench for months on end. After three days, I’d be begging them to murder me. No, my prince, I pray you, not Adventure.”
“你还有更好的法子？”昆廷问他。“我有。就在刚才想到的。它有风险，而且我向你坦白，它不像你所说的那样荣耀 … 但它能让你更快地见到你的女王，比走魔鬼之路要快。
“Do you have a better way?” Quentyn asked him.“I do. It’s just now come to me. It has its risks, and it is not what you would call honorable, I grant you … but it will get you to your queen quicker than the demon road.”
“告诉我”，昆廷说道。
“Tell me,” said Quentyn Martell.
