It was well past dark and the storm was raging by the time they reached the place.
等到達那地方,天早已黑暗,風暴開始肆虐。
The village sat beside a lake, and had been so long abandoned that most of the houses had collapsed.
村子坐落在湖邊,很久以前就被廢棄,所有房屋都已倒塌,
Even the small timber inn that must once have been a welcome sight for travelers stood half-fallen and roofless.
甚至那木結構的小客棧也倒了一半。過去,旅人看到它定會十分寬慰,而今這沒屋頂的廢墟卻怎么也讓人高興不起來。
We will find scant shelter here, Jon thought gloomily.
我們在這兒得不到遮蔽,瓊恩沮喪地想。
Whenever the lightning flashed he could see a stone roundtower rising from an island out in the lake,
每次閃電劃過,都能看見湖中央小島上矗立著一座圓形石塔,
but without boats they had no way to reach it.
但沒船,過不去。
Errok and Del had crept ahead to scout the ruins, but Del was back almost at once.
埃洛克和戴爾躡手躡腳地前去偵察廢墟,后者幾乎立刻就回來了。
Styr halted the column and sent a dozen of his Thenns trotting forward, spears in hand.
斯迪當即止住隊列,派出十幾個瑟恩人,手持長矛,一路小跑往前行。
By then Jon had seen it too: the glimmer of a fire, reddening the chimney of the inn.
這時瓊恩也發現了:閃爍的火光映紅了客棧的煙囪。
We are not alone.
我們并非唯一的訪客。
Dread coiled inside him like a snake.
恐懼像蛇一樣纏繞在他心中。
He heard a horse neigh, and then shouts.
他聽見一聲馬嘶,然后是呼喊。
Ride with them, eat with them, fight with them, Qhorin had said.
與他們一起行軍,與他們一起用餐,與他們一起作戰,科林的吩咐……
But the fighting was done.
戰斗剛開始就告結束。
“There’s only one of them,”
“只有一個人,”
Errok said when he came back.
埃洛克回來報告,
“An old man with a horse.”
“一個老頭跟一匹馬。”
The Magnar shouted commands in the Old Tongue and a score of his Thenns spread out to establish a perimeter around the village,
馬格拿用古語大聲發號施令,二十個瑟恩人分散開來,圍住村子,
whilst others went prowling through the houses to make certain no one else was hiding amongst the weeds and tumbled stones.
其余部下則于房屋之間巡察,確保沒人躲在雜草叢或亂石堆里。
The rest crowded into the roofless inn, jostling each other to get closer to the hearth.
掠襲者們擠在那沒屋頂的客棧,互相推攘著向壁爐靠近。
The broken branches the old man had been burning seemed to generate more smoke than heat,
老人用來點火的斷枝所產生的煙似乎比熱量還多,
but any warmth was welcome on such a wild rainy night.
但在這樣一個狂暴的雨夜,哪怕一點點暖意都令人舒心。
Two of the Thenns had thrown the man to the ground and were going through his things.
兩個瑟恩人將老人推到地上,搜查他的隨身物品,
Another held his horse, while three more looted his saddlebags.
另一個牽了他的馬,還有三個在翻他的鞍囊。
Jon walked away.
瓊恩走開了。
A rotten apple squished beneath his heel.
一個爛蘋果在腳下碾碎。
Styr will kill him.
斯迪會殺了他。
The Magnar had said as much at Greyguard;
馬格拿在灰衛堡就聲明過,
any kneelers they met were to be put to death at once, to make certain they could not raise the alarm.
遇到任何下跪之人,都要立刻處死,以確保他們無法示警。
Ride with them, eat with them, fight with them.
與他們一起行軍,與他們一起用餐,與他們一起作戰。
Did that mean he must stand mute and helpless while they slit an old man’s throat?
這是否意味著,必須沉默無助地看著他們割開無辜老人的喉嚨?
Near the edge of the village, Jon came face-to-face with one of the guards Styr had posted.
在村子邊緣,瓊恩面對面遇上一名斯迪安排的守衛。
The Thenn growled something in the Old Tongue and pointed his spear back toward the inn.
瑟恩人用古語低沉地說了些什么,并用矛尖指指客棧。
Get back where you belong, Jon guessed.
回到屬于你的地方去,瓊恩猜測。
But where is that?
但我屬于哪兒呢?
He walked towards the water,
他走向湖邊,
and discovered an almost dry spot beneath the leaning daub-and-wattle wall of a tumbledown cottage that had mostly tumbled down.
在一堵傾斜的土木墻邊發現塊干燥的地方——那堵墻屬于一幢搖搖欲墜、大部坍塌的村舍——
That was where Ygritte found him sitting, staring off across the rain-whipped lake.
坐下來呆呆地望著雨點抽打的湖面。耶哥蕊特正是在這兒找到了他。
“I know this place,”
“我知道這地方的名字,”
he told her when she sat beside him.
她坐在他身邊,他說,
“That tower … look at the top of it the next time the lightning flashes, and tell me what you see.”
“下次閃電的時候注意看塔頂,告訴我看到了什么。”
“Aye, if you like,” she said, and then,
“好,只要你喜歡,”她回答,然后續道,
“Some o’ the Thenns are saying they heard noises out there.
“一些瑟恩人聽見那兒有響聲,
Shouting, they say.”
似乎是里面傳出的喊叫。”
“Thunder.”
“多半是打雷吧。”
“They say shouting.
“他們說是喊叫。
Might be it’s ghosts.”
也許有鬼魂呢。”
The holdfast did have a grim haunted look,
那要塞黑乎乎地矗立在風暴中,
standing there black against the storm on its rocky island with the rain lashing at the lake all around it.
而它所在的巖島四周,雨水不停地鞭擊湖面,看起來確實有點陰森森,像是鬼魂出沒之所。
“We could go out and take a look,” he suggested.
“我們可以過去看看,”他建議,
“I doubt we could get much wetter than we are.”
“反正身子夠濕,不會更糟了。”
“Swimming? In the storm?”
“游泳?在風暴中游泳?”
She laughed at the notion.
她報以大笑,
“Is this a trick t’ get the clothes off me, Jon Snow?”
“是想騙我脫衣服嗎,瓊恩·雪諾?”
“Do I need a trick for that now?” he teased.
“為此還需要騙你?”他調皮地回答,
“Or is that you can’t swim a stroke?”
“還是你根本連劃水都不行呀?”
Jon was a strong swimmer himself, having learned the art as a boy in Winterfell’s great moat.
瓊恩自己是個游泳能手,小時候在臨冬城的寬闊護城河里學就的。
Ygritte punched his arm.
耶哥蕊特捶了一下他的胳膊。
“You know nothing, Jon Snow.
“你什么都不懂,瓊恩·雪諾。
I’m half a fish, I’ll have you know.”
我就是半條魚,你會明白的。”
“Half fish, half goat, half horse …
“半條魚,半頭山羊,半匹馬……
there’s too many halves to you, Ygritte.”
你的一半也太多了,耶哥蕊特。”
He shook his head.
他搖搖頭,
“We wouldn’t need to swim, if this is the place I think.
“我們不需要游,如果這就是我所知道的那個地方,
We could walk.”
我們可以走過去。”