JON
瓊恩
The ground was littered with pine needles and blown leaves, a carpet of green and brown still damp from the recent rains.
地上到處是松針和被風(fēng)吹落的樹葉,仿佛一層棕綠色地毯,卻為雨水所浸透。
It squished beneath their feet.
落葉在腳下咯吱作響。
Huge bare oaks, tall sentinels, and hosts of soldier pines stood all around them.
光禿禿的大橡樹、高聳的哨兵樹和成片的士卒松矗立在旁。
On a hill above them was another roundtower, ancient and empty, thick green moss crawling up its side almost to the summit.
又一座古老圓塔位于山崗,里面空空的,墻壁爬滿厚厚一層綠苔蘚,幾乎直達塔頂。
“Who built that, all of stone like that?”
“這些石東西是誰修的?”
Ygritte asked him.
耶哥蕊特問他,
“Some king?”
“國王嗎?”
“No.
“不,
Just the men who used to live here.”
是曾生活在這里的人們修筑的。”
“What happened to them?”
“他們后來怎么了?”
“They died or went away.”
“死了,或是離開。”
Brandon’s Gift had been farmed for thousands of years,
“布蘭登的饋贈”數(shù)千年來都有人耕種,
but as the Watch dwindled there were fewer hands to plow the fields, tend the bees, and plant the orchards,
但隨著守夜人軍團的縮減,沒有多余人手用于犁地、養(yǎng)蜂或種植果園,
so the wild had reclaimed many a field and hall.
因此許多田地和廳堂被荒野重新占據(jù)。
In the New Gift there had been villages and holdfasts whose taxes, rendered in goods and labor,
“新贈地”本有村落和莊園,其中稅收供養(yǎng)著黑衣弟兄,或以貨物,或以勞動,
helped feed and clothe the black brothers.
提供食物衣衫。
But those were largely gone as well.
但這些大多也不存在了。
“They were fools to leave such a castle,” said Ygritte.
“他們是傻瓜,離開這樣一座好城堡?!币缛锾卦u論。
“It’s only a towerhouse.
“這只是一座塔樓。
Some little lordling lived there once, with his family and a few sworn men.
某個小領(lǐng)主曾帶著家族和效忠他的武士住在這兒,
When raiders came he would light a beacon from the roof.
掠襲者到來時,便會燃起烽火報警。
Winterfell has towers three times the size of that.”
真正的城堡,比如臨冬城的塔有這個的三倍高?!?/p>
She looked as if she thought he was making that up.
她似乎認為他在編故事。
“How could men build so high, with no giants to lift the stones?”
“沒有巨人托起石頭,怎能造得那么高呢?”
In legend, Brandon the Builder had used giants to help raise Winterfell, but Jon did not want to confuse the issue.
傳說“筑城者”布蘭登正是憑借巨人的幫助才建起臨冬城,但瓊恩不想把話題弄復(fù)雜。
“Men can build a lot higher than this.
“人們可以建比這高出許多的城堡。
In Oldtown there’s a tower taller than the Wall.”
舊鎮(zhèn)有座塔是全世界最高的建筑,比長城還高呢。”
He could tell she did not believe him.
他看出她不相信。
If I could show her Winterfell …
如果我可以向她展示臨冬城……
give her a flower from the glass gardens, feast her in the Great Hall,
為她摘一朵玻璃花園的花,與她在大廳里歡宴,
and show her the stone kings on their thrones.
給她看坐在王座上的國王石像。
We could bathe in the hot pools, and love beneath the heart tree while the old gods watched over us.
我們可以在溫泉里洗澡,在心樹下愛撫,讓舊神看護我們。
The dream was sweet … but Winterfell would never be his to show.
甜美的夢……但臨冬城永遠不是讓他給人展示的。
It belonged to his brother, the King in the North.
它屬于他哥哥,北境之王。
He was a Snow, not a Stark.
他姓雪諾,不姓史塔克。
Bastard, oathbreaker, and turncloak …
私生子,背誓者,變色龍……
“Might be after we could come back here, and live in that tower,” she said.
“也許以后我們可以回到這兒,住在那座塔里,”她說,
“Would you want that, Jon Snow?
“你想不想這樣,瓊恩·雪諾?
After?”
以后?”
After.
以后。
The word was a spear thrust.
這個詞像長矛般刺入他心房。
After the war.
戰(zhàn)爭以后。
After the conquest.
征服以后。
After the wildlings break the Wall …
野人突破長城以后……
His lord father had once talked about raising new lords and settling them in the abandoned holdfasts as a shield against wildlings.
父親大人談?wù)撨^提拔新領(lǐng)主,安置在廢棄的莊園,作為抵擋野人的屏障。
The plan would have required the Watch to yield back a large part of the Gift,
這一計劃需要守夜人讓出贈地里的一大片區(qū)域,
but his uncle Benjen believed the Lord Commander could be won around,
但叔叔班揚相信可以說服莫爾蒙總司令,
so long as the new lordlings paid taxes to Castle Black rather than Winterfell.
只要新領(lǐng)主們向黑城堡納稅,而非向臨冬城。
“It is a dream for spring, though,” Lord Eddard had said. “
“但那是春天的夢想,”艾德公爵說,
Even the promise of land will not lure men north with a winter coming on.”
“而凜冬將至,縱然許以土地,也無法吸引人們前往北方。”
If winter had come and gone more quickly and spring had followed in its turn,
若冬天來去得快,而春天緊接著降臨,
I might have been chosen to hold one of these towers in my father’s name.
我也許會被選中,以父親的名義占據(jù)這些塔樓之一。
Lord Eddard was dead, however, his brother Benjen lost;
然而艾德公爵死去,班揚叔叔也失了蹤,
the shield they dreamt together would never be forged.
他們設(shè)想的屏障再也不會實現(xiàn)。
“This land belongs to the Watch,” Jon said.
“這兒屬于守夜人?!杯偠髡f。
Her nostrils flared.
她嗤之以鼻,
“No one lives here.”
“沒人住在這兒?!?/p>
“Your raiders drove them off.”
“他們是被掠襲者趕走的?!?/p>
“They were cowards, then.
“那他們就是膽小鬼。
If they wanted the land they should have stayed and fought.”
想保住土地,就該留下來戰(zhàn)斗才對?!?/p>
“Maybe they were tired of fighting.
“也許他們厭倦了戰(zhàn)斗。
Tired of barring their doors every night and wondering if Rattleshirt or someone like him would break them down to carry off their wives.
厭倦了每晚上閂,琢磨叮當衫之流會不會破門而入,擄走妻子。
Tired of having their harvests stolen, and any valuables they might have.
厭倦了收獲或任何可能擁有的家什都被你們盜走。
It’s easier to move beyond the reach of raiders.”
搬到掠襲者所能達到的范圍之外會比較安逸?!?/p>
But if the Wall should fail, all the north will lie within the reach of raiders.
倘若長城淪陷,整個北境都將遭受掠襲者的侵擾。
“You know nothing, Jon Snow.
“你什么都不懂,瓊恩·雪諾。
Daughters are taken, not wives.
我們只搶女兒,不搶妻子。
You’re the ones who steal.
再說,你們才是真正的強盜。
You took the whole world, and built the Wall t’ keep the free folk out.”
你們霸占整個世界,然后筑起長城,將自由民擋在外面。”