The walls rise sheer from the water, and from their towers the defenders have a commanding view of the opposite shores for many leagues around. To cut off all the approaches, a besieger must needs place one camp north of the Tumblestone, one south of the Red Fork, and a third between the rivers, west of the moat. There is no other way, none."
城墻自水中高高拔起,守軍自塔樓上可以看清對岸數里格之內的所有事物。若要切斷各方支援,攻城方必須在騰石河北岸、紅又河南岸以及護城河西岸,亦即兩條河之間,各放置一支軍隊。除此之外,別無他法。
Sir Kevan speaks truly, my lords, the courier said. "We'd built palisades of sharpened stakes around the camps, yet it was not enough, not with no warning and the rivers cutting us off from each other. They came down on the north camp first. No one was expecting an attack. Marq Piper had been raiding our supply trains, but he had no more than fifty men. Sir Jaime had gone out to deal with them the night before... well, with what we thought was them. We were told the Stark host was east of the Green Fork, marching south... "
“諸位大人,凱馮爵士說得沒錯,”信使說,“我軍已在營地周圍密布削尖木柵,但在沒有任何預警,河水又把我們的營地互相切斷的情況下,這樣的準備遠遠不夠。他們首先襲擊北方的營地,時機完全出乎我們的意料。先前,馬柯·派柏不斷騷擾我軍的補給車隊,但他手下只有五六十人。遭受攻擊的前一晚,詹姆爵士親自帶兵去對付他們……唉,當時我們以為目標就是派柏那伙人。我們聽說史塔克軍還在綠叉河東岸,正朝南而去……”
And your outriders? Sir Gregor Clegane's face might have been hewn from rock. The fire in the hearth gave a somber orange cast to his skin and put deep shadows in the hollows of his eyes. "They saw nothing? They gave you no warning?"
“你們的斥候呢?”格雷果·克里岡爵士的臉活像石雕,火光為他的皮膚罩上了一層陰森的橙色,在他的眼眶底投下深深的陰影。“莫非他們什么都沒看到?沒給你們任何警訊?”
The bloodstained messenger shook his head. "Our outriders had been vanishing. Marq Piper's work, we thought. The ones who did come back had seen nothing."
滿身血污的信使搖搖頭。“我們的偵察部隊最近不斷失蹤,我們以為是馬柯·派柏搞的鬼。而偶爾回來的人又說什么也沒發現。”