評論
打印
“Only three hundred times.”
“你講了三百遍了。”
Every man at Castle Black had heard Ulmer’s tales of the great outlaw band of yore;
黑城堡里每個人都聽烏爾馬說過昔日那幫了不起的土匪：
of Simon Toyne and the Smiling Knight, Oswyn Longneck the Thrice-Hanged, Wenda the White Fawn, Fletcher Dick, Big Belly Ben, and all the rest.
西蒙·托因和微笑騎士，三絞不死的長頸奧斯溫，“白鹿”溫妲，“造箭者”迪克，“大肚子”本恩以及其他人。
Searching for escape, Sweet Donnel looked about and spied Sam standing in the muck.
為避免再聽一遍，美女唐納環顧四周，找到站在泥地里的山姆。
“Slayer,” he called.
“殺手，”他喊，
“Come, show us how you slew the Other.”
“過來，給我們演示你怎么殺異鬼的。”
He held out the tall yew longbow.
他舉起高大的紫杉木長弓。
Sam turned red.
山姆漲紅了臉。
“It wasn’t an arrow, it was a dagger, dragonglass …”
“不是用箭，是用匕首，龍晶……”
He knew what would happen if he took the bow.
他知道如果自己拿起長弓，接下來會發生什么：
He would miss the butt and send the arrow sailing over the dike off into the trees.
他會脫靶，讓箭越過土堤，飛進樹林，
Then he’d hear the laughter.
然后大家哈哈大笑。
“No matter,” said Alan of Rosby, another fine bowman.
“沒關系，”另一位弓箭好手，羅斯比的阿蘭道，
“We’re all keen to see the Slayer shoot.
“看殺手射箭是件美事。
Aren’t we, lads?”
對不對啊，伙計們？”
He could not face them; the mocking smiles, the mean little jests, the contempt in their eyes.
他無法面對他們：嘲弄的笑容，刻薄的話語，眼中的輕蔑。
Sam turned to go back the way he’d come, but his right foot sank deep in the muck, and when he tried to pull it out his boot came off.
山姆轉身原路返回，不料右腳卻深深陷入泥沼中，拔腿反把靴子拔掉了。
He had to kneel to wrench it free, laughter ringing in his ears.
他只好跪下去將它拽出來，邊拽邊聽耳邊響起笑聲。
Despite all his socks, the snowmelt had soaked through to his toes by the time he made his escape.
等他逃開，融雪已滲入腳趾之間，層層襪子都不起作用。
Useless, he thought miserably.
我是個廢物，他悲慘地想，
My father saw me true.
父親說得一點沒錯。
I have no right to be alive when so many brave men are dead.
那么多優秀的人都死了，我沒資格活著。
Grenn was tending the firepit south of the compound gate, stripped to the waist as he split logs.
葛蘭在堡壘小門南面照料火坑，脫光上身劈柴，
His face was red with exertion, the sweat steaming off his skin.
臉因使勁而漲得通紅，汗水淋漓。
But he grinned as Sam came chuffing up.
眼看山姆噗哧噗哧走來，他咧嘴笑道：
“The Others get your boot, Slayer?”
“異鬼拽下了你的靴子，殺手？”
Him too?
你怎么也？……
“It was the mud.
“是因為爛泥啦。
Please don’t call me that.”
請別那么叫我。”
“Why not?” Grenn sounded honestly puzzled.
“為什么？”葛蘭聽上去很疑惑。
“It’s a good name, and you came by it fairly.”
“這是個好名字，你當之無愧。”
Pyp always teased Grenn about being thick as a castle wall, so Sam explained patiently.
派普常取笑葛蘭，說他的臉皮比城墻還厚，所以山姆得耐心解釋。
“It’s just a different way of calling me a coward,”
“這只是換種方式叫我膽小鬼罷了，”
he said, standing on his left leg and wriggling back into his muddy boot.
他邊說，邊左腳站立，右腳扭進沾滿泥土的靴子里。
“They’re mocking me, the same way they mock Bedwyck by calling him ‘Giant.’ ”
“他們用它來嘲笑我，就像用‘巨人’這外號嘲笑貝德威克。”
“He’s not a giant, though,” said Grenn,
“但他不是巨人，”葛蘭說，
“and Paul was never small.
“而保羅個子一點不‘小’。
Well, maybe when he was a babe at the breast, but not after.
好吧，或許他小時候個頭不大，但長大后絕對不小。
You did slay the Other, though, so it’s not the same.”
可你確實殺了異鬼，所以這不一樣的。”
“I just … I never … I was scared!”
“我只不過……我從來沒……我當時非常恐懼！”
“No more than me.
“我也是。
It’s only Pyp who says I’m too dumb to be frightened.
派普說我笨得不會害怕，
I get as frightened as anyone.”
其實我跟別人一樣怕。”
Grenn bent to scoop up a split log, and tossed it into the fire.
葛蘭彎腰揀起一段劈裂的木柴，扔進火坑中。
“I used to be scared of Jon, whenever I had to fight him.
“我從前很怕瓊恩，怕跟他練武，
He was so quick, and he fought like he meant to kill me.”
因為他動作太快，而且打起來像要殺了我似的。”
The green damp wood sat in the flames, smoking before it took fire.
潮濕的新柴落入火焰中，冒起煙霧。
“I never said, though.
“這些話我從沒說出口，
Sometimes I think everyone is just pretending to be brave, and none of us really are.
有時我覺得大家只不過是裝出一副天不怕地不怕的樣子，而沒有一個人真正勇敢。
Maybe pretending is how you get brave, I don’t know.
也許裝來裝去，就會變得勇敢起來吧，我不知道。
Let them call you Slayer, who cares?”
反正，他們想叫‘殺手’就讓他們叫，有什么關系呢？”
“You never liked Ser Alliser to call you Aurochs.”
“可，可你也不喜歡艾里沙爵士叫你‘苯牛’。”
“He was saying I was big and stupid.”
“是啊，他老說我又壯又笨。”
Grenn scratched at his beard.
葛蘭撓撓胡子。
“If Pyp wanted to call me Aurochs, though, he could.
“但如果派普叫我‘笨牛’，那沒關系，
Or you, or Jon.
你或瓊恩也一樣。
An aurochs is a fierce strong beast, so that’s not so bad, and I am big, and getting bigger.
瞧，牛是種兇猛強壯的野獸，所以沒什么不妥，我確實個子高大，而且還在長呢。
Wouldn’t you rather be Sam the Slayer than Ser Piggy?”
你呢，你難道不想做‘殺手’山姆而非要做豬頭爵士？”
“Why can’t I just be Samwell Tarly?”
“我為什么不能簡簡單單地做山姆威爾·塔利？”
He sat down heavily on a wet log that Grenn had yet to split.
他沉重地坐到一根葛蘭還沒劈開的濕木頭上。
“It was the dragonglass that slew it.
“是龍晶殺了它。
Not me, the dragonglass.”
不是我，是龍晶干的。”
