DAENERYS第二章丹妮莉丝(一)
She could hear
the dead man coming up the steps. The slow, measured sound of footsteps went
before him, echoing amongst the purple pillars of her hall. Daenerys Targaryen
awaited him upon the ebon bench that she had made her throne. Her eyes were
soft with sleep, her silver-gold hair all tousled.她能听见逝者踏梯而来。步声徐缓而有节奏,远远传来,回荡在殿内的紫色宫柱之间。乌木王座之上,丹妮莉丝·坦格利安等候着他的到来。她睡眼朦胧,亮金色的长发还是一片凌乱。
“Your Grace,” said Ser Barristan Selmy, the lord commander of her Queensguard, “there is no need for you to see this.”“陛下,“执掌御林铁卫的巴利斯坦·赛尔弥爵士劝道。”此事您不必亲自视察。”
“He died for me.” Dany clutched her lion pelt to her chest. Underneath, a sheer white
linen tunic covered her to midthigh. She had been dreaming of a house with a
red door when Missandei woke her. There had been no time to dress.“他为我而死。”丹妮将狮皮外套拽在胸前。狮皮下仅套了件薄薄的白色亚麻罩衫。被弥桑黛唤醒的时候,她还在梦着一座红门小屋。事起突然,已来不及更衣。
“Khaleesi,” whispered Irri, “you must not touch the dead man. It is bad luck to touch the dead.”“卡拉熙,”伊丽低声说道,“死者不能触碰的,那将带来厄运。”
“Unless you killed them yourself.” Jhiqui was bigger-boned than Irri, with wide hips and heavy
breasts. “That is known.”“除非他们命丧你手,”姬琪接道。她比伊蕊高大,身材甚是丰盈。“此事众所周知。”
“It is known,” Irri agreed.“众所周知,”伊丽赞同道。
Dothraki were
wise where horses were concerned, but could be utter fools about much else.
They are only girls, besides. Her handmaids were of an age with her—women grown
to look at them, with their black hair, copper skin, and almond-shaped eyes,
but girls all the same. They had been given to her when she wed Khal Drogo. It
was Drogo who had given her the pelt she wore, the head and hide of a hrakkar,
the white lion of the Dothraki sea. It was too big for her and had a musty
smell, but it made her feel as if her sun-and-stars was still near her.谈到马,多斯拉克人可能无所不知,可除此之外便是十足的傻瓜。再说她们不过是些小丫头。这几名侍女年纪与她相仿,虽然黑发、杏眼和古铜色的皮肤让她们看上去似已成年,可毕竟仍是孩子。她们是卓戈卡奥给她的礼物,狮皮也是——那是一张完整的白狮皮,来自多斯拉克草海。虽然狮皮太大,很不合身,还带着霉味,可却能让她感到卓戈仍在身旁。她的日和星。
Grey Worm
appeared atop the steps first, a torch in hand. His bronze cap was crested with
three spikes. Behind him followed four of his Unsullied, bearing the dead man
on their shoulders. Their caps had only one spike each, and their faces showed
so little they might have been cast of bronze as well. They laid the corpse
down at her feet. Ser Barristan pulled back the bloodstained shroud. Grey Worm
lowered the torch, so she might see.最先踏上台阶的是“灰虫”,他手举火把,铜盔上傲立着三根尖刺。紧随其后四名无垢者的肩上,便是那个死者。四人的头盔只饰有一根尖刺,毫无表情的面孔仿佛铜铸一般。他们将尸体放到她的脚边,一旁的巴利斯坦爵士揭开了染血的尸布,而“灰虫”则放低了火把,以便她能看个清楚。
The dead man’s
face was smooth and hairless, though his cheeks had been slashed open ear to
ear. He had been a tall man, blue-eyed and fair of face. Some child of Lys or
Old Volantis, snatched off a ship by corsairs and sold into bondage in red
Astapor. Though his eyes were open, it was his wounds that wept. There were
more wounds than she could count.死者的脸光滑无须,可双颊却被割开,几乎拉到了两侧耳际。高个子,蓝眼睛,一张英俊的面孔。里斯或者古沃兰迪斯人,被海盗绑架后卖到血色阿斯塔泊为奴。他双目圆睁,可流泪的却是伤口,她数不清的伤口。
“Your Grace,” Ser Barristan said, “there was a harpy drawn on the bricks in the alley where he was
found …”“陛下,”巴利斯坦爵士说道,“他是在一条巷子里被发现的,那里的砖墙上画着一只鹰身女妖。”
“… drawn in blood.” Daenerys knew the way of it by now. The Sons of
the Harpy did their butchery by night, and over each kill they left their mark.
“Grey Worm, why was this man alone? Had he no partner?” By her command, when
the Unsullied walked the streets of Meereen by night they always walked in
pairs.“…用血所画。”现在丹妮莉丝明白了。“鹰身女妖之子”在夜幕下干着屠杀的勾当,每杀一人都会留下印记。“‘灰虫’,此人为何落单?没人与他同行吗?”按她的命令,在弥林,无垢者夜间巡逻的时候,总是两人一组。
“My queen,” replied the captain, “your servant Stalwart Shield had no duty last night. He had gone to
a … a certain place … to drink, and have companionship.”“女王陛下,”队长答道,“您的仆人‘坚盾’昨晚并未当值。他去了某个…某个地方…饮酒,找人作伴。”
“A certain place? What do you mean?”“某个地方?你指的是什么?”
“A house of pleasure, Your Grace.”“某个风月场所,陛下。”
A brothel. Half
of her freedmen were from Yunkai, where the Wise Masters had been famed for
training bedslaves. The way of the seven sighs. Brothels had sprouted up like
mushrooms all over Meereen. It is all they know. They need to survive. Food was
more costly every day, whilst the price of flesh grew cheaper. In the poorer
districts between the stepped pyramids of Meereen’s slaver nobility, there were
brothels catering to every conceivable erotic taste, she knew. Even so … “What
could a eunuch hope to find in a brothel?”妓院。那些重获自由的人有半数是来自渊凯,那里的“贤主”们因训练床奴而闻名于世。七种呻吟之术。现在,妓院已如蘑菇般遍布弥林。他们所会的仅此而已,况且他们需要生存。食物一天贵过一天,而肉体的欢愉却越来越廉价。散落在贵族金字塔之间的贫民街区里,不少妓院提供着一切可以想象的服务。这些她都知道。可即便如此…“太监想能在妓院里找到什么呢?”她问道。
“Even those who lack a man’s parts may still have a man’s heart, Your Grace,” said Grey Worm. “This one has been told that your servant Stalwart Shield sometimes
gave coin to the women of the brothels to lie with him and hold him.”“身体不完整的男人仍有男人的心,陛下,”灰虫答道。“小人曾获知,您的仆人‘坚盾’有时付钱给妓院的女子,抱着他同眠。”
The blood of the
dragon does not weep. “Stalwart Shield,” she said, dry-eyed. “That was his name?”龙之血脉决不流泪。“坚盾。那是他的名字?”,她发问的时候眼中没有泪光。
“If it please Your Grace.”“如果陛下满意的话。”
“It is a fine name.” The Good Masters of Astapor had not allowed
their slave soldiers even names. Some of her Unsullied reclaimed their birth
names after she had freed them; others chose new names for themselves. “Is it
known how many attackers fell upon Stalwart Shield?”“很好的名字。”阿斯塔珀的“贤主”们不允许他们的奴隶士兵有自己的名字。丹妮让他们重获自由以后,一部分无垢者用回了本名,而另一部分则替自己取了新名。“知道袭击‘坚盾’的有多少人吗?”
“This one does not know. Many.”“小人不知。应该很多。”
“Six or more,” said Ser Barristan. “From the look of his wounds, they swarmed him from all sides. He was
found with an empty scabbard. It may be that he wounded some of his attackers.”“六个,或者更多”,巴利斯坦爵士说道。“从伤口来看,他们是从四面蜂拥而上的。他被发现时刀鞘已空,可能他也刺伤了敌人。”
Dany said a
silent prayer that somewhere one of the Harpy’s Sons was dying even now, clutching at his belly and writhing in
pain. “Why did they cut
open his cheeks like that?”丹妮默默的祈祷他们中有人已在痛苦中垂死挣扎。“他们为何将他的脸割成这样?”
“Gracious queen,” said Grey Worm, “his killers had forced the genitals of a goat down the throat of
your servant Stalwart Shield. This one removed them before bringing him here.”“女王陛下,“灰虫答道。“凶手把羊鞭塞进了您的仆人‘坚盾’的喉管。小人之前把它取了出来。”
They could not
feed him his own genitals. The Astapori left him neither root nor stem. “The
Sons grow bolder,” Dany observed. Until now, they had limited their attacks to
unarmed freedmen, cutting them down in the streets or breaking into their homes
under the cover of darkness to murder them in their beds. “This is the first of my soldiers they have
slain.”他们无法将他自己的阳物塞进喉管,阿斯塔珀奴隶主的阉割十分彻底。“‘女妖之子’越来越大胆了,”丹妮说道。之前,他们袭击的对象还仅限于手无寸铁的平民,只敢在夜幕的掩盖下伏击小巷中的行人,或者乘人熟睡之时入屋行刺。“这是他们第一次刺杀我的士兵。”
“The first,” Ser Barristan warned, “but not the last.”“第一次,”巴利斯坦爵士说道。“但决非最后一次。”
I am still at
war, Dany realized, only now I am fighting shadows. She had hoped for a respite
from the killing, for some time to build and heal.战争仍未结束,丹妮明白,可现在我的对手是一群幽灵。她曾希望这场杀戮能有所间歇,能有时间来重建和疗伤。
Shrugging off
the lion pelt, she knelt beside the corpse and closed the dead man’s eyes, ignoring Jhiqui’s gasp. “Stalwart Shield shall not be forgotten. Have him washed and dressed
for battle and bury him with cap and shield and spears.”她抛下狮皮外套,跪在死者身旁,替他合上双眼,全不理会姬琪的惊呼。“‘坚盾’不会被遗忘。替他清洗后为他穿上战衣,将头盔、盾牌和长矛与他同葬。”
“It shall be as Your Grace commands,” said Grey Worm.“遵命,”灰虫答道。
“Send men to the Temple of the Graces and ask if any man has come to
the Blue Graces with a sword wound. And spread the word that we will pay good
gold for the short sword of Stalwart Shield. Inquire of the butchers and the
herdsmen, and learn who has been gelding goats of late.” Perhaps some goatherd would confess. “Henceforth, no man of mine walks alone after
dark.”“派人去仁者大殿,问问那些蓝衣仁者,是否有人曾因剑伤求诊。同时放出话去,我们重金悬赏‘坚盾’的短剑。还有,去屠夫和牧民那里查查,最近是否有人骟羊。”某些害怕的牧民或许会交待。“从今以后,我的部下不准在夜间独行。”
“These ones shall obey.”“小人遵命。”
Daenerys pushed
her hair back. “Find these
cowards for me. Find them, so that I might teach the Harpy’s Sons what it means to wake the dragon.”丹妮莉丝将长发拂向脑后。“给我把这些懦夫找出来,把他们找出来,我要让‘鹰身女妖之子’明白,惊醒睡龙意味着什么。”
Grey Worm
saluted her. His Unsullied closed the shroud once more, lifted the dead man
onto their shoulders, and bore him from the hall. Ser Barristan Selmy remained
behind. His hair was white, and there were crow’s-feet at the corners of his
pale blue eyes. Yet his back was still un-bent, and the years had not yet
robbed him of his skill at arms. “Your Grace,” he said, “I fear your eunuchs are ill suited for the tasks you set them.”“灰虫”躬身行礼,随后指挥属下的无垢者负着死者离开大殿。巴利斯坦爵士则留了下来。他须发皆白,淡蓝色的双眼周围已有皱纹。可他的腰背仍然直挺,而岁月也并未夺走他的武艺。“陛下,”巴利斯坦说道,“我担心您的太监士兵并不适合你交代给他们的这些任务。”
Dany settled on
her bench and wrapped her pelt about her shoulders once again. “The Unsullied are my finest warriors.”丹妮坐了下来,重新将狮皮外套披在肩上。“无垢者是我最好的战士。”
“Soldiers, not warriors, if it please Your Grace. They were made for
the battlefield, to stand shoulder to shoulder behind their shields with their
spears thrust out before them. Their training teaches them to obey, fearlessly,
perfectly, without thought or hesitation … not to unravel secrets or ask questions.”“他们是士兵,可不是战士,如果陛下不介意在下直言的话。他们属于战场,只知肩并肩地站在盾牌之后,将长矛刺向前方。他们的训练只有如何遵守命令,毫无畏惧、完美无缺的遵守,没有思想,没有犹豫…但没有教会他们如何解开秘密,如何盘查发问。”
“Would knights serve me any better?” Selmy was training knights for her, teaching the sons of slaves to
fight with lance and longsword in the Westerosi fashion … but what good would lances do against cowards
who killed from the shadows?“骑士又会好多少呢?”巴利斯坦正为她训练骑士,指导奴隶的孩子们以维斯特洛的方式用骑枪和长剑作战。可是面对躲在暗处偷袭的懦夫,骑枪又有何用?
“Not in this,” the old man admitted. “And Your Grace has no knights, save me. It will be years before the
boys are ready.”“此事也非骑士所长,”老人承认道。“况且除我之外,陛下再无骑士。那些孩子还需多年方可效力。”
“Then who, if not Unsullied? Dothraki would be even worse.” Dothraki
fought from horseback. Mounted men were of more use in open fields and hills
than in the narrow streets and alleys of the city. Beyond Meereen’s walls of
many-colored brick, Dany’s rule was tenuous at best. Thousands of slaves still
toiled on vast estates in the hills, growing wheat and olives, herding sheep
and goats, and mining salt and copper. Meereen’s storehouses held ample
supplies of grain, oil, olives, dried fruit, and salted meat, but the stores
were dwindling. So Dany had dispatched her tiny khalasar to subdue the
hinterlands, under the command of her three bloodriders, whilst Brown Ben Plumm
took his Second Sons south to guard against Yunkish incursions.“可若非无垢者,还能有谁?多斯拉克人只会更糟。”多斯拉克人只擅长骑马作战,更合用于旷野,而不是城中狭巷。弥林多彩的城墙之外的地界只能勉强算作她的领地。数以千计的奴隶仍在山中辛苦地放羊、采盐、挖矿、种植小麦和橄榄。城中的库房虽然储备着尚算充足的粮油、橄榄、干果和腌肉,但店中的货物却在不断减少。为此丹妮已命三位血盟卫率领卡拉萨前去征服这片腹地,并令“褐面”本·普拉姆率领“次子”佣兵团南下防范渊凯的侵袭。
The most crucial
task of all she had entrusted to Daario Naharis, glib-tongued Daario with his
gold tooth and trident beard, smiling his wicked smile through purple whiskers.
Beyond the eastern hills was a range of rounded sandstone mountains, the Khyzai
Pass, and Lhazar. If Daario could convince the Lhazarene to reopen the overland
trade routes, grains could be brought down the river or over the hills at need
… but the Lamb Men had no reason to love Meereen. “When the Stormcrows return
from Lhazar, perhaps I can use them in the streets,” she told Ser Barristan,
“but until then I have only the Unsullied.” Dany rose. “You must excuse me,
ser. The petitioners will soon be at my gates. I must don my floppy ears and
become their queen again. Summon Reznak and the Shavepate, I’ll see them when I’m dressed.”至于最重要的任务,她已交给达阿里奥·纳哈里斯——那个镶着金牙、留着三尖胡须、紫髯下一脸坏笑、口舌如簧的达阿里奥。东部丘陵以外,横亘着一条环状沙石山脉,那是雷哈撒之地,世称“凯塞通道”。如果达阿里奥能够成功说服雷哈撒人重开这条贸易通道,粮食便可经由丘陵或是沿河顺流运抵弥林。但被称为“羔羊之民”的雷哈撒人对弥林可是殊无好感。“等‘风暴之鸦’佣兵团从雷哈撒归来,或许我可以让他们在城中布防,”她对巴利斯坦爵士说道。“但在此之前,我能用的只有这些无垢者。”她转过话题道。“抱歉,爵士。请愿者们很快将至门下。我得戴上我的兔子耳朵,再次扮成他们的女王。替我把雷兹纳克和‘剃顶大人’召来,我着装之后要见他们。”
“As Your Grace commands.” Selmy bowed.“遵命,陛下,”赛尔弥躬身退下。
The Great
Pyramid shouldered eight hundred feet into the sky, from its huge square base
to the lofty apex where the queen kept her private chambers, surrounded by
greenery and fragrant pools. As a cool blue dawn broke over the city, Dany
walked out onto the terrace. To the west sunlight blazed off the golden domes
of the Temple of the Graces, and etched deep shadows behind the stepped
pyramids of the mighty. In some of those pyramids, the Sons of the Harpy are
plotting new murders even now, and I am powerless to stop them.八百尺高的大金字塔从雄浑的方形石基上拔地而起,直耸云霄。女王的闺房便坐落在傲立的塔顶,四周的葱葱绿意中点缀着几个芳香四溢的池塘。天刚拂晓,晴朗而清凉,丹妮信步走到露台之上。西面,阳光将仁者大殿的金色圆顶照得一片辉煌,也在贵族金字塔群身后刻下浓黑的阴影。即便此刻,“鹰身女妖之子”也一定在某座梯状金字塔内策划新的谋杀,她寻思道,我却无力制止。
Viserion sensed
her disquiet. The white dragon lay coiled around a pear tree, his head resting
on his tail. When Dany passed his eyes came open, two pools of molten gold. His
horns were gold as well, and the scales that ran down his back from head to
tail. “You’re lazy,” she told him, scratching under his jaw. His scales were
hot to the touch, like armor left too long in the sun. Dragons are fire made
flesh. She had read that in one of the books Ser Jorah had given her as a
wedding gift. “You should be hunting with your brothers. Have you and Drogon
been fighting again?” Her dragons were growing wild of late. Rhaegal had
snapped at Irri, and Viserion had set Reznak’s tokar ablaze the last time the
seneschal had called. I have left them too much to themselves, but where am I
to find the time for them?韦赛利昂觉察到了她的不安。这条白龙正以尾支头,蜷伏在一颗桃树旁。丹妮经过的时候,它睁开双眼,宛如两泓流金。同样金色的还有它的双角和从头至尾覆满背部的鳞甲。“你真懒,”丹妮挠了挠它的颚下说道。它的鳞片滚热,仿佛在烈日下曝晒许久的盔甲。龙是烈火铸成的血肉——乔拉爵士送她的结婚礼物中有一本书如是说。“你应该跟你的兄弟们一起去捕猎的。又跟卓耿打架了?”最近她的小龙们越来越野了。雷哥曾差点咬到伊丽,而韦赛利昂在雷兹纳克上次觐见时喷燃了他的礼服。我太让它们自行其事了,可我又哪来时间照顾它们?
Viserion’s tail
lashed sideways, thumping the trunk of the tree so hard that a pear came
tumbling down to land at Dany’s feet. His wings unfolded, and he half flew,
half hopped onto the parapet. He grows, she thought as he launched himself into
the sky. They are all three growing. Soon they will be large enough to bear my
weight. Then she would fly as Aegon the Conqueror had flown, up and up, until
Meereen was so small that she could blot it out with her thumb.韦赛利昂猛一甩尾,重重打在树干上,将一个桃子震落在丹妮脚下。而后它张开双翼,半飞半跳地跃上护栏。它长大了,丹妮望着腾空的白龙心道。三条小龙都长大了,很快我就能象“征服者”伊耿一样翱翔,越飞越高,越飞越高,直到用一个拇指便可盖住整个弥林。
She watched
Viserion climb in widening circles until he was lost to sight beyond the muddy
waters of the Skahazadhan. Only then did Dany go back inside the pyramid, where
Irri and Jhiqui were waiting to brush the tangles from her hair and garb her as
befit the Queen of Meereen, in a Ghiscari tokar.丹妮目送着韦赛利昂盘旋而去,直至它消失在斯卡哈撒丹那片泥水的上空。她转身回到塔内,伊丽和姬琪早已等着替她梳头换衣。丹妮换上的是一件吉斯卡里礼服,弥林女王应着之物。
The garment was
a clumsy thing, a long loose shapeless sheet that had to be wound around her
hips and under an arm and over a shoulder, its dangling fringes carefully
layered and displayed. Wound too loose, it was like to fall off; wound too
tight, it would tangle, trip, and bind. Even wound properly, the tokar required
its wearer to hold it in place with the left hand. Walking in a tokar demanded
small, mincing steps and exquisite balance, lest one tread upon those heavy
trailing fringes. It was not a garment meant for any man who had to work. The
tokar was a master’s garment, a sign of wealth and power.这是件非常笨拙的衣物,一块又长又松、毫无样式的布片。丹妮必须将其缠在腰上,再从腋下绕到一侧肩头,而其上晃个不停的流苏也得仔仔细细地分层展开。缠得太松,它会滑落;缠得太紧,又会显得凌乱,并且束手束脚。即便缠得不松不紧,也得一直用左手加以保持。穿着这种礼服走路只能用小碎步,否则会绊上沉重的裙裾。这不是便于工作的衣裳,而是贵族的礼服,财富和权力的象征。
Dany had wanted
to ban the tokar when she took Meereen, but her advisors had convinced her
otherwise. “The Mother of Dragons must don the tokar or be forever hated,”
warned the Green Grace, Galazza Galare. “In the wools of Westeros or a gown of
Myrish lace, Your Radiance shall forever remain a stranger amongst us, a
grotesque outlander, a barbarian conqueror. Meereen’s queen must be a lady of
Old Ghis.” Brown Ben Plumm, the captain of the Second Sons, had put it more
succinctly. “Man wants to be the king o’ the rabbits, he best wear a pair o’ floppy ears.”征服弥林之后,丹妮曾想禁用这种礼服,却被议会劝阻。“龙母必须身着此服,否则将会永遭恨意,”绿衣仁者伽拉撒·伽拉瑞告诫道。“若是身着维斯特洛衣物,或是弥尔长袍,陛下定将永为陌路之人,荒诞的异族客,野蛮的征服者。弥林女王必为古吉斯的传统女子。”而“次子”佣兵团长“褐面”本·普拉姆的话则更为直白:“要做兔子们的国王,最好也带上兔子耳朵。”
The floppy ears
she chose today were made of sheer white linen, with a fringe of golden
tassels. With Jhiqui’s help, she wound the tokar about herself correctly on her
third attempt. Irri fetched her crown, wrought in the shape of the three-headed
dragon of her House. Its coils were gold, its wings silver, its three heads
ivory, onyx, and jade. Dany’s neck and shoulders would be stiff and sore from
the weight of it before the day was done. A crown should not sit easy on the
head. One of her royal forebears had said that, once. Some Aegon, but which
one? Five Aegons had ruled the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. There would have been
a sixth, but the Usurper’s dogs had murdered her brother’s son when he was
still a babe at the breast. If he had lived, I might have married him. Aegon
would have been closer to my age than Viserys. Dany had only been conceived
when Aegon and his sister were murdered. Their father, her brother Rhaegar,
perished even earlier, slain by the Usurper on the Trident. Her brother Viserys
had died screaming in Vaes Dothrak with a crown of molten gold upon his head.
They will kill me too if I allow it. The knives that slew my Stalwart Shield
were meant for me.今天她选的“兔子耳朵”是由白色薄亚麻布所制,缀着金色的流苏。有姬琪的帮手,她总算在失败两次之后将礼服缠绕妥当。随后伊丽捧来她的皇冠。皇冠按她家族的族徽打造为一条三头飞龙,金身银翼,三个龙头分别以象牙、玛瑙和翡翠所制。散朝之前,丹妮的肩颈就会被皇冠压得僵直酸痛。头顶王冠不应坐享安乐,她的一位皇室先祖曾如是说。那是某位伊耿,可他究竟是几世伊耿?曾有五位伊耿统治过维斯特洛的七国之地,若非她尚在襁褓中的侄子惨死于篡位者的走狗手下,原本应该还有伊耿六世。如果他仍然在世的话,或许我已经嫁给了他。伊耿比韦赛里斯更接近我的年纪。丹妮的母亲刚怀上她,伊耿和他的妹妹就惨遭杀害。而此前他们的父亲便在三叉戟河丧命于篡位者之手。她哥哥韦赛里斯则死于多斯拉克,死于一顶炽热的金水王冠之下。如果他们得逞的话,我也会死。杀死“坚盾”的凶刃是冲我而来。
She had not
forgotten the slave children the Great Masters had nailed up along the road
from Yunkai. They had numbered one hundred sixty-three, a child every mile,
nailed to mileposts with one arm outstretched to point her way. After Meereen
had fallen, Dany had nailed up a like number of Great Masters. Swarms of flies
had attended their slow dying, and the stench had lingered long in the plaza.
Yet some days she feared that she had not gone far enough. These Meereenese
were a sly and stubborn people who resisted her at every turn. They had freed
their slaves, yes … only to hire them back as servants at wages so meagre that
most could scarce afford to eat. Those too old or young to be of use had been
cast into the streets, along with the infirm and the crippled. And still the
Great Masters gathered atop their lofty pyramids to complain of how the dragon
queen had filled their noble city with hordes of unwashed beggars, thieves, and
whores.她没有忘记那些被“圣主”们钉死在路旁的奴隶儿童。一百六十三个孩子,从渊凯到弥林一里一个被钉在里程柱上,一只手指着她前进的方向。攻陷弥林之后,丹妮对同样数目的“圣主”施以了钉刑。漫长的死亡引来成群的苍蝇,而广场上的恶臭也弥久不消。然而有时她仍担心这些都还不够。狡猾而顽固的弥林人从没放弃任何一个反击她的机会。不错,他们的确释放了奴隶,可却又以食不果腹的待遇将他们重新雇为奴仆。一方面,他们将老弱病残弃之街头,另一方面,“圣主”们聚集在他们高高的金字塔上,抱怨龙后让他们高贵的城市挤满了肮脏的乞丐、小偷和妓女。
To rule Meereen
I must win the Meereenese, however much I may despise them. “I am ready,” she told Irri.无论我如何厌恶他们,我也必须赢得弥林人的支持,方可统治这座城市。“我准备好了,”她对伊丽说道。
Reznak and
Skahaz waited atop the marble steps. “Great queen,” declared Reznak mo Reznak,
“you are so radiant today I fear to look on you.” The seneschal wore a tokar of
maroon silk with a golden fringe. A small, damp man, he smelled as if he had
bathed in perfume and spoke a bastard form of High Valyrian, much corrupted and
flavored with a thick Ghiscari growl.雷兹纳克与斯卡哈日早已在大理石阶上等候觐见。“伟大的女王,”雷兹纳克·莫·雷兹纳克大声说道。“您今日的光彩另我不敢仰视。”这名小个子塞纳沙尔人穿着一件饰有金色流苏的栗色丝质礼服,身上那股味道象在香水中泡过一般。他讲一口瓦雷利亚官话,但杂合着浓重的吉斯卡里口音。
“You are kind to say so,” Dany answered, in the same tongue.“承蒙夸奖,”丹妮用更为纯正的口音答道。
“My queen,” growled Skahaz mo Kandaq, of the shaven head. Ghiscari
hair was dense and wiry; it had long been the fashion for the men of the Slaver
Cities to tease it into horns and spikes and wings. By shaving, Skahaz had put
old Meereen behind him to accept the new, and his kin had done the same after
his example. Others followed, though whether from fear, fashion, or ambition,
Dany could not say; shavepates, they were called. Skahaz was the Shavepate …
and the vilest of traitors to the Sons of the Harpy and their ilk. “We were told about the eunuch.”“女王,”剃着光头的斯卡哈日·莫·坎达克低沉地说道。“我们已经知道那个太监的事。”吉斯卡里人都有一头浓密的硬发,奴隶城邦的男子多年都流行把头发做成尖角、刺状或翼形。而斯卡哈日却把头剃得精光,表示自己已经弃旧投新。效仿他的先是坎达克家人,随后是其他部属。此举是出于潮流、恐惧还是野心,丹妮不得而知。他们被称作“剃顶之民”,而斯卡哈日则是“剃顶大人”,也是背弃“鹰身女妖之子”及其族人的叛逆之首。
“His name was Stalwart Shield.”“他的名字叫‘坚盾’。”
“More will die unless the murderers are punished.” Even with his
shaven scalp, Skahaz had an odious face—a beetled brow, small eyes with heavy
bags beneath them, a big nose dark with blackheads, oily skin that looked more
yellow than the usual amber of Ghiscari. It was a blunt, brutal, angry face.
She could only pray it was an honest one as well.“如果凶犯继续逍遥法外,死的人将会更多。”即便剃了光头,斯卡哈日的面目仍然狰狞:吊眉毛、小眼睛、黑眼袋、长满粉刺的大鼻头,油光可鉴的腊黄皮肤也不是吉斯卡里人常见的琥珀色。这张脸上满是粗鄙、凶残和怒气,她唯有祈祷其中也有诚实。
“How can I punish them when I do not know who they are?” Dany demanded of him. “Tell me that, bold Skahaz.”“但不知其身份,如何惩罚?”丹妮问道。“告诉我,勇士斯卡哈日。”
“You have no lack of enemies, Your Grace. You can see their pyramids
from your terrace. Zhak, Hazkar, Ghazeen, Merreq, Loraq, all the old slaving
families. Pahl. Pahl, most of all. A house of women now. Bitter old women with
a taste for blood. Women do not forget. Women do not forgive.”“陛下,您的敌人可不会少。从露台上,您就可以看到他们的金字塔。扎卡、梅内克、洛拉克、哈兹卡尔、咖兹瑞恩…所有那些昔日的奴隶主们。还有帕希。没错,尤其是帕希,现在只有满门女子,嗜血恶毒的怨妇。女人决计不会忘记过去,决计不会宽恕敌人。”
No, Dany
thought, and the Usurper’s dogs will learn that, when I return to Westeros. It
was true that there was blood between her and the House of Pahl. Oznak zo Pahl
had been cut down by Strong Belwas in single combat. His father, commander of
Meereen’s city watch, had died defending the gates when Joso’s Cock smashed them into splinters. Three
uncles had been among the hundred sixty-three on the plaza. “How much gold have we offered for information
concerning the Sons of the Harpy?” Dany asked.决计不会,丹妮心道,当我重返维斯特洛的时候,我会让篡位者的走狗们明白这点。的确,帕希家族同她有着深仇血恨:死于“壮汉”贝沃斯手下的欧兹纳克·佐·帕希一直都是弥林的英雄;“乔索的命根子”将城门砸得粉碎时,也杀死了他时任城邦卫队统领的父亲;而被钉在广场的一百六十三人中还有他的叔叔。“对‘鹰身女妖之子’行踪的悬赏多大?”丹妮向雷兹纳克问道。
“One hundred honors, if it please Your Radiance.”“一百个荣耀币,如果陛下不介意的话。”
“One thousand honors would please us more. Make it so.”“一千个荣耀币会更好。照此去办。”
“Your Grace has not asked for my counsel,” said Skahaz Shavepate,
“but I say that blood must pay for blood. Take one man from each of the
families I have named and kill him. The next time one of yours is slain, take
two from each great House and kill them both. There will not be a third murder.”“陛下没有问我的意见,”斯卡哈日插话道。“但我得说,血债必须血偿。我刚才提到的家族中,每户处死一人。如果您的属下再被谋杀,每户处死两人。这样决不会有第三起谋杀。”
Reznak squealed
in distress. “Noooo … gentle queen, such savagery would bring down
the ire of the gods. We will find the murderers, I promise you, and when we do
they will prove to be baseborn filth, you shall see.”雷兹纳克痛苦地叫道:“不、不…温柔的女王,这种野蛮行径只会招来神怒。属下发誓定会找出真凶,那时您会明白,他们不过是些出生低微的贱民。”
The seneschal
was as bald as Skahaz, though in his case the gods were responsible. “Should
any hair be so insolent as to appear, my barber stands with razor ready,” he
had assured her when she raised him up. There were times when Dany wondered if
that razor might not be better saved for Reznak’s throat. He was a useful man,
but she liked him little and trusted him less. The Undying of Qarth had told
her she would be thrice betrayed. Mirri Maz Duur had been the first, Ser Jorah
the second. Would Reznak be the third? The Shavepate? Daario? Or will it be
someone I would never suspect, Ser Barristan or Grey Worm or Missandei?这个塞纳沙尔人同斯卡哈日剃着一样的光头,不过原因则据说是出于对神的信仰。他曾告诉丹妮:“如果有根头发胆敢冒出的话,我的理发师便会手持剃刀待命。”不过有时丹妮会寻思那把剃刀是否用在他的喉头更为合适。他很能干,可丹妮对他并无好感,更谈不上信任。她还没有忘记那个以怨报德的巫女,是她谋害了丹妮的丈夫和尚未出世的孩子。不朽神殿的预言说她会遭逢三次背叛。巫女是第一个,乔拉爵士是第二个。那么第三个会是雷兹纳克、斯卡哈日还是达阿里奥?或许会是我并未怀疑的人?巴利斯坦、“灰虫”或者弥桑黛?